Match Point
by Sanae
Summary: With Hyotei out of the Nationals, the very last thing Keigo Atobe needs is having to deal with someone even more spoilt than he is. Atobe/OC.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I, of course, do NOT own Prince of Tennis. No money is made out of this so please don't sue me! _

_A/N: This will be a short-ish story that I *needed* to write in order to: 1) Get it out of my system; 2) Get back into writing since it's been a while. To whoever is waiting for an update to my unfinished Initial D story, it'll come right after I finish this. I promise! __To those reading this one, thank you very much for your time! Also, please note that the storyline I'm following is the manga one not the anime, so things like the Hyotei vs Seigaku matches from the training camp never happened, ok?_

_Now, moving on to…_

**Match Point**

_Prologue_

There were days, in which Keigo Atobe felt more grateful than usual for having the very quiet Munehiro Kabaji as his best friend; the Captain of the Hyotei Tennis Club mused while observing the big second year. Kabaji was, as always, playing with Beat, Keigo's white fluffy dog, while Keigo himself sat by the pool, enjoying one of the exotic fruit juices he liked so much.

He would have to congratulate the chef for, once again, getting the mix just right because today he needed the pick up drink more than ever: just twenty four hours earlier, Keigo's team had seen their dreams of going to the All-Japan Tennis Tournament cut short by the mighty players of Seishun Gakuen. Sensitive Kabaji knew well that while Keigo didn't want to be bothered by anybody, his Captain still wanted to have him around.

Hyotei's defeat was mostly his own fault, Keigo reflected. Never mind the fact that he had beaten Kunimitsu Tezuka, a friend and formidable tennis player, injuring him in the process, (Keigo was trying very hard to push that to the back of his mind, lest he'd get even more depressed by the thought), his biggest mistake had been to underestimate that first year called Ryoma Echizen.

The way he'd soundly beat Wakashi Hiyoshi, the very man Keigo had handpicked to take over him after his graduation, had come as a huge shock to everyone but that didn't help Keigo feel any less guilty. He really should have foreseen that Tezuka would have never left the fate of Seigaku in the hands of anyone below his very high standards.

Keigo was sure of one thing: he would most definitely keep an eye on that first year because, unless both Tezuka and himself were very much mistaken, the little guy would, sooner or later, break all the existing records, maybe even those set by his father, the Samurai Nanjiroh. Keigo briefly amused himself thinking that he could exert his revenge on Seigaku by trying to get Echizen to enrol into Hyotei Gakuen.

Before he could let out a chuckle, he saw one of his butlers approach him with one of the mansion's cordless in his hand. Since Keigo wasn't in the mood to talk to anybody, he waved his hand dismissively.

'Keigo-bocchama,' the butler insisted, 'you might want to take this call: it's Keisei-kaichou-sama.'

That made Keigo's eyes dart up towards the butler. His parents spent most of the year away from the family home and the very few times they got in touch with him, it was always his mother who called. The fact that his own father, the owner of Atobe Holdings, had bothered to pick up the phone and place the call could only mean one thing: very bad news.

'I'll take the call in my room,' Keigo announced, getting up from his chair, forcing himself to keep a cool appearance while his insides were beginning to cringe in panic. He started racking his brain, trying to think of something he'd messed up so badly as to make his father go through the trouble of calling him.

The only thing he could think of was Hyotei's recent defeat but, again, his father had never cared all that much about his extra-curricular activities but Keigo really didn't know what else to think of, even more so because he was positive he had always behaved the way his father would approve of.

By the time Keigo reached the heavy double door behind which was his room, he resigned himself to his fate and, opening the door resolutely, he crossed the room and picked up the receiver from the antique white and gold phone he had on top of a mahogany stand.

'Father,' he just said.

'Keigo,' his father's voice was as deep and authoritarian-sounding as Keigo remembered, 'you'll be home tomorrow.'

Keigo didn't fool himself: this wasn't a question, it was an order.

'Of course,' he replied nevertheless. Keigo tried not to think of the fact that, despite not having seen or talked to each other in over six months, his father had not even bothered to ask him if he was alright. Unsurprisingly, Keisei Atobe just went straight to the point. That's the way the man dealt with business and in the rare occasions he spoke to his son.

'Good,' his father said next, 'tomorrow, the daughter of the Watanabes will be coming to stay in Tokyo for a month. I trust you know what I expect from you.'

Keigo's panic went up a notch.

'O-of course,' he somehow managed to reply, 'Father…'

'That's all,' his father interrupted, 'my secretary will be in touch soon to give you the details.'

With this, the line went dead leaving Keigo too stunned to do anything useful. He really ought to be used to it by now, after all, at nearly thirty seconds, this had been one of the longest conversations he'd had with his father in the past three years. That, however, didn't make Keigo feel any better.

Coming out of his reverie, he replaced the receiver and dropping himself onto the nearest armchair, for the first time, Keigo allowed himself to think of what his father had just told him: the daughter of the Watanabes was coming to stay at the mansion for a month.

Of all the people who could be bothering him with their presence, it had to be the only person he knew of who was even more spoilt than he was. If Hyotei's defeat hadn't done the trick, this most definitely had:

Keigo Atobe was officially depressed.

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter One

A/N: As I told ansonozaki (thanks for your review!) this is my first Prince of Tennis fan-fiction so I hope I don't mess things up too much. That said, I'll do my very best to keep the updates coming frequently so that this story doesn't go on forever. As usual, many thanks to whoever reads this!

**Match Point**

_Chapter One_

Keisei Atobe's secretary was a very persuasive woman.

That had to be the only reasonable explanation as to why Keigo had accepted to be driven to Narita Airport, so that he could wait for his very much unwanted guest at the Arrivals hall. He still felt rather puzzled that the girl had chosen to travel using a commercial airline, instead of the private jet owned by the Watanabe Group but maybe that was just another one of her caprices.

Using his strict upbringing, he mentally prepared himself to be nothing but an exquisite and perfectly polite host; however, the memory of the last time he'd seen Ayane Watanabe still made him wish that her plane had crashed, preferably somewhere around the Himalaya.

No. That wouldn't be a good thing, Keigo decided.

The Watanabe family had been friends with the Atobe since the Meiji era and, for four generations, the two clans had always been involved with each other, if not in business, at least at some personal level.

Just like the Atobe, the Watanabe had always been rich. The Watanabe Group currently owned one of the largest banking corporations in Japan as well as being one of the most important shareholders of the Atobe Holdings. Daitaro Watanabe, Ayane's father, had also attended Hyotei Gakuen with Keisei Atobe and the two had then enrolled together into the Economics Department of Tokyo University.

It was little wonder that Keisei Atobe wanted to keep nurturing his already strong friendship with Daitaro Watanabe.

Looking at his right wrist, he started remembering that skiing trip to St Moritz. He'd been in his last year at King's and had already been accepted into Hyotei Gakuen. His winning streak in the European junior tennis circuit was making him rather well known and, truth be told, he had never seen his father looking prouder of him.

Keigo Atobe was definitely a very happy twelve year old, back then.

That was till Ayane Watanabe showed up with her parents at the exclusive resort. She was slightly older than him, just a few months, if his memory served him right, yet again, she seemed to have the maturity level of a four year old and, for the entire length of her stay, she just would not stop whinnying or crying or a combination of the two.

It had given him a very sore headache.

To his horror, Daitaro Watanabe asked him to teach his daughter to ski since, apparently, the girl was useless at it. Even the most qualified instructors' best efforts had failed to make her grasp the basic concepts needed to ski half-way decently. Keigo didn't think that he, a mere kid, could be any more successful but, again, he _was _Keigo Atobe so, he would definitely do a better job than any of those losers.

With this, he had taken the clumsy and teary girl to one of the sections of the track reserved to the beginners and there, he had tried to convince her that the first thing she needed to learn was how to fall sideways without hurting herself. Naturally, she didn't believe him and that's where the troubles started.

It took him every ounce of his very limited patience to teach her the snowplough technique and, after several attempts, she managed to go down the gentlest slope without killing herself. Alas, that made her get somewhat confident and, the next time she went down the slope, with Keigo cruising next to her, just in case, she lost control of one of her skis and, since she had refused to learn how to fall properly, in the panic which ensued, she grabbed herself to him, making both of them to fall over quite miserably.

It was only when they both got back to the resort that Keigo realised that his right wrist hurt. Badly.

The skin surrounding it was violently red and swollen and it was so painful that, in order to remove the glove Keigo was wearing, they had to cut off. He made the doctor reassure him in, literally several different languages, that his tennis career had not been put in jeopardy because of the injury. Thankfully, the doctor assured him that it was just a sprain and that with some rest and a bit of ointment, the hand would be as good as new in no time. Unfortunately, this meant he could no longer ski so he spent the rest of the holidays cupped up in the library, reading.

What made him madder than anything was that Ayane, not only never apologised, but what was worse, she left the resort the very next day saying she'd had enough and that she wanted to go back to her school. Keigo was nothing but pleased to see her go and, luckily for him, that would be the last time he would see the girl.

Until now.

They arrived at Narita Airport some twenty minutes before the flight was due to land. Hopping off the limo, Keigo Atobe proceeded to walk with one of his butlers towards Arrivals. He started wishing Kabaji was there so that he could ask his friend to, maybe, try and scare her off, Keigo pondered darkly.

No, poor Kabaji. He couldn't do that to him…

It would probably be better if he just resigned himself to his fate and did his best to make this month go by as fast as possible. Hopefully Ayane would spend most of it shopping in Ginza or something like that and he would not have to see her at all. Now, that was a much more constructive way of thinking.

Twenty five minutes and an atrocious cappuccino later, (he would have to write to the company which managed to airport so that they would improve the quality of their beverages), the Arrivals board announced that the flight from Zurich had landed and that they were beginning to deliver the baggage. Soon after that, Keigo started seeing some passengers rolling their trolleys into the hall were he was.

Among them, he started looking out for a fifteen year old girl, hoping he'd recognise her. Failing that, his butler had already prepared a sign with her name written on it in both romaji and kanji which, as it turned out, was the only reason why Ayane Watanabe didn't walk straight past them.

'Hi,' she said, smiling at the butler, 'I'm her,' she continued, pointing at the sign.

Keigo did a double take, still doing his best to appear cool and composed. That girl was definitely not what he had expected. For some reason, in his head, he wanted her perfectly groomed, tall, dressed with the latest Milan fashion and with a horde of hand helpers trailing after her. Instead, he had in front of him what had to be the plainest-looking girl ever.

She was shorter than that Tachibana girl, was wearing an old pair of jeans, a pair of non-descript, flat shoes and one of those see-through cardigans ballerinas wear. It was white, just as the shoes and the strappy top she had under it.

He had no idea what her dark brown hair was like since she had in on top of her head, fastened with a big, silver hairclip. Her face didn't have the slightest hint of make up which made the two shadows under her eyes quite visible.

She looked tired.

'Hello,' she said in a carefully controlled voice which betrayed nothing. Her smile was tense.

'Hello,' Keigo managed to reply then, with a huge effort, he forced himself to smile back, 'I trust you had a nice flight,' he added, in an effort to make polite conversation.

'No,' Ayane replied, 'I hated every minute of it.'

Keigo was so surprised to hear that sudden display of honesty that he forgot he was trying to smile.

'I don't like flying,' she supplied, probably seeing his confused expression, 'I'm claustrophobic so it makes me nervous to be locked up in a confined space.'

'I see,' Keigo finally said. Then it occurred to him: 'if you hate flying so much, why are you living abroad?'

'Well,' Ayane replied, 'the only way to go to a Swiss boarding school is if you live in Switzerland and since that's what father wanted, it's not like if I had a choice, is it?'

No, she hadn't, Keigo agreed. Instead of voicing that, he just nodded and signalled to the butler so that he would take the luggage from her. That caused yet another surprise: she only had a single piece of luggage and a small white handbag she had hanging from her left shoulder.

The girls from his social circle would not go around the corner without, at the very least, two trolleys, a gown carrier and a beauty case. Yet, this girl seemed to have packed for the whole month in just a mid-size case.

Ah! That was good, Keigo thought. She's probably planning on buying heaps of stuff in Japan. Which means that she'd probably spend most of the day out shopping. Which means that he wouldn't have to entertain her…

'Shall we go?' Ayane suddenly asked, taking him out of his reverie.

'Sure,' Keigo replied.

They settled into the limo pretty quickly and, in no time, they were travelling back to Tokyo where they would arrive, according to the chauffer, in a little more than half an hour and Keigo started thinking of what to do during this time in order to make the wait seem as brief as possible.

'Would you like anything to drink from the bar?' he asked Ayane.

'No thanks,' she said.

'Some music then?' Keigo insisted.

'No, thank you,' Ayane replied. The girl started looking at the buttons from the console which controlled the many gadgets the limo had at the rider's disposal. Keigo observed her eyes darting from one button to another, then she smiled as she finally found the one she was looking for.

Pressing it, she made her window roll down and, with this, she stared out of it, remaining silent.

Instead of making him feel better, this quiet and distant attitude of hers made Keigo unsettled. He was honestly stunned and that was something he wasn't used to. In his world, where he had everything and everyone under his control, there were very few things which could surprise him and, this girl seemed determined to be one of them.

Keigo blamed it all in the tremendous shock he'd received while watching Ryoma Echizen play. He'd also been under a huge amount of stress during his match with Tezuka so, it was normal, he decided, that his nerves were a little more sensitive than usual.

It's not that he didn't enjoy the silence. Kabaji was too a very quiet person but, unlike with this girl, Keigo felt at ease and enjoyed the peaceful company Kabaji always provided. Something in Ayane's quietness made him feel weird.

Keigo decided to try again:

'So, er…' he stopped, hesitating for just an instant, 'is it still okay if I call you by your first name?' he enquired.

Ayane looked at him, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

'Of course,' she replied, 'we've known each other since we were kids and we've both grown up in Europe, haven't we?' she asked.

'Yes, we have,' Keigo agreed.

'So, nothing wrong with using our first names, Keigo,' she said.

Hearing her saying his name made him feel weird all over again.

'Okay, ' he said, 'I wanted to ask you what you're planning on doing during your stay in Tokyo. If you have any specific plans, I'll make sure the necessary arrangements are made.'

'There's no need for that,' Ayane assured, 'however, if I remember correctly, you have a very well assorted library.'

'We do,' Keigo confirmed.

'Perfect,' Ayane continued, smiling softly, 'then, with your permission, I think I'll spend most of my time in there.'

'But…' Keigo started.

'Look,' Ayane interrupted him, 'what I'm planning on doing is to bother you as little as possible so that you can pretend I don't exist, okay?'

Keigo didn't know what to reply to that. All he knew is that, whoever this girl was, she had nothing to do with the whinnying, crying brat he'd last seen in St Moritz and that, he decided, having her staying at the mansion was going to be slightly more interesting than he'd anticipated.

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter Two

_A/N: I told you I'd keep them coming, didn't I? *laughs* Seriously though, it's the weekend, therefore I can write faster than during the week. Also, I'm kind of inspired right now so I'll try to have another chapter ready tomorrow. As always, thanks for reading!_

**Match Point**

_Chapter Two_

Staying true to her word, Ayane had remained in the library for the six days she'd been at the mansion, only leaving it to go to bed. His staff had informed Keigo that she had requested to have all her meals in the conservatory adjacent to the library and which overlooked part of the rose garden.

That Sunday morning wasn't an exception and, once again, Keigo found himself having breakfast alone. His butler was busy pouring him some freshly made Colombian coffee when, lowering his tone of voice, he asked:

'Keigo-bocchama, is there anything wrong with Ayane-sama?'

'No,' Keigo replied dryly, 'if she wants to have her meals alone, she shall have them. It doesn't bother me.'

He added that last bit more to his own benefit than any other reason. If he really wanted to be honest, he was starting to feel rather offended. Not that he wanted to see her around the clock, but she was his guest and it was just common courtesy to, at the very least, share some meals with your host.

She was most definitely being rude!

Fighting the instinct which wanted him to go and find her, Keigo forced himself to eat all three courses which composed his breakfast. So, only after finishing the delicious raspberry, home-made cake the butler had brought with the coffee, he got up and asked for a maid to get his tennis bag ready.

Then, instead of walking towards the mansion's main entrance, he made his way towards the library with the sole purpose of finding out whether his guest was prepared to start being reasonably civil. Keigo was even ready to invite a few of his fellow Hyotei tennis club members so that they would not have to be alone.

Once in front of the library's door, he stopped himself short from knocking on it. This, after all, was _his _library and, they were in _his _mansion. For this reason, he just opened the door, stepping into the library in the same kind of battle-mode he adopted before any of his tennis matches.

'Oh,' he heard Ayane say. She was curled up in one of the sofas, with a book open on top of a cushion she had on her knees. There was a glass of water on a small table near the sofa as well as an opened box of tissues.

'What are you reading that's so sad?' Keigo enquired, noticing that the shadows under her eyes had got darker, her eyes were moist and she appeared to have been crying.

'Little Women,' a slightly embarrassed Ayane replied. For a fleeting moment, he thought she looked a little bit cute.

'I didn't know we had that book,' Keigo commented, trying to look at anything but her, 'it must be Mother's,' he then decided.

'I think so too,' Ayane agreed, 'there are a whole bunch of romance books on that shelf over there,' she added pointing with a slight gesture of her head towards one of the farthest corners of the library.

'Ah, I don't usually go there,' Keigo said. Then, he suddenly remembered the reason which had brought him there: 'listen,' he said, 'I didn't think you'd take it to the letter, you know, the whole staying locked up in the library for the entire month…'

'Why not?' Ayane asked, 'am I causing you any trouble?' she added.

'As a matter of fact, you are,' Keigo replied.

That made Ayane put both book and cushion away. She got up and then Keigo noticed that she was wearing the same jeans she had worn the day of her arrival, only that she had a red t-shirt on. She was barefoot and her hair was still tied up with that silver clip. He started wondering if she had even bothered to shower in the six days she'd been there.

'Look,' she said, 'I did mean it when I said that I wanted to be out of your way.'

'I got that bit loud and clear,' Keigo said, 'however, you can't stay here for the whole month. We do have a pool which you can use. Also, I think you should go out and do some shopping or go to the hairdresser.'

'There's nothing wrong with my hair!' Ayane exclaimed.

'I wouldn't know, would I?' Keigo countered, 'I've only seen you twice but you always seem to wear it up.'

'I just prefer it that way,' Ayane admitted, 'but I cut it regularly enough. And what do you mean that I need to go shopping? Is that what you think us girls do all the time?'

Keigo's silence seemed to tick her off even more.

'Right, I get it,' she said looking down at her own clothes, 'when I packed up to come here are I just chose the comfiest garments I own. I didn't think such lack of designer labels would offend you.'

That made Keigo let out a mirthless chuckle.

'Nothing you do _can _offend ore-sama,' he sneered, 'in fact, it's been so easy to forget you're here that I needed to be reminded of your presence by one of the members of the staff. However,' he continued before she could protest, 'I think you have been taught some manners and I'm sure you know the way you're supposed to behave when you're a guest in someone's house so, tonight, I want you showered and dressed properly because you're having dinner with me. Is that understood?'

Ayane looked positively flabbergasted.

'Is that understood?' Keigo repeated, lowering his tone to almost a hiss.

'Yes,' Ayane finally replied.

'Good,' Keigo said, 'now I'm off to play tennis. Dinner's served at seven, don't be late.'

With this, he just walked out of the room feeling rather satisfied. It was oddly entertaining to argue with her and he promised himself that he'd do it again sometime soon. Meanwhile, he was running late for his appointment with Yuushi Oshitari and, if he knew his team mate as well as he thought he did, the Kansai-born Hyotei player would arrive at the court exactly five minutes before their agreed time.

If it wasn't so, he would eat his own racquet.

Thankfully for both Keigo and his Premier Tour 600, Yuushi was already there, in the process of serving a ball. Keigo would never say it out loud but he had to admit it: very few tennis players had his natural elegance. Keigo knew that it was that and his being so unassuming which made too many people underestimate him. Most of them paid their mistake dearly.

'You're late,' Yuushi said seeing Keigo drop his bag on top of the bench. They were in one of the tennis courts at the Atobe Sports Centre. Yuushi looked around and said, 'where's Kabaji?'

'He's home,' Keigo replied, '_his _home,' he clarified, 'his sister is paying a visit so I haven't seen him all day.'

'Feeling lonely?' Yuushi ventured, keeping the tone light enough so that Keigo would know he was joking.

'Not really,' Keigo replied nevertheless, 'besides, you know I have a guest in the mansion.'

'Oh yeah,' Yuushi said, 'how is it going?'

'Weird,' he replied sincerely, 'but nothing ore-sama can't fix. In fact, you're coming for dinner tonight.'

'Do I have a choice?' Yuushi asked rhetorically.

'No,' Keigo replied, 'I want you to gather a few of the third years too. Can you make it happen?'

'Of course,' Yuushi replied. He then laughed a little, 'it'll take a while before we all get used to the fact that, technically speaking, you're no longer Captain.'

Keigo glared at him.

'I haven't retired yet so, ore-sama _is _still Captain.'

'Of course,' Yuushi continued unfazed, 'did you hear about Seigaku?'

'What about them?' Keigo nearly grunted. Trust Yuushi to bring up a painful topic of conversation just before a match. He was going to pay for it later, courtesy of a few well placed Rondos to Destruction.

'They've won the semi-finals,' Yuushi announced.

'They played against Midoriyama and Rokkaku, haven't they?' Keigo asked.

'Yes,' Yuushi replied, 'but they're playing Rikkai Dai next. It won't be a piece of cake, especially since they're playing without Tezuka.'

'Something tells me that this will only make them even more determined to win,' Keigo said then, almost as he was talking to himself, he said, 'I wonder how he's faring in Miyazaki, do you think the doctors at the Seishun University Hospital are going to get him healed in time for the Nationals?'

'The Nationals?' Yuushi exclaimed, 'Atobe, they haven't even won the Kanto Tournament…'

'They will,' Keigo said, 'I know they will. Now, enough with the chat, I hope you're ready.'

'Ready for what?' silly Yuushi asked.

'To be beaten by ore-sama, again,' Keigo said and, laughing at his own joke, he unzipped his sleeveless, hooded jacket, dropping it carelessly on top of the bench. Yuushi didn't even bother to reply, instead, he waited for him to stand on the other side of the net and, touching his racquet's frame to the ground, he asked:

'Which?'

'No need for that,' Keigo said, 'you can have the serve. I'll have this end.'

'Have it your way,' Yuushi said.

'Of course,' Keigo countered and then, proceeded to position himself somewhere at three-thirds of his half of the court, readying himself for one of Yuushi's famous fast serves.

The two of them played for nearly an hour and a half. Yuushi had his match point twice but, ultimately, Keigo turned things around in his favour and the score ended up at seven-five. He was very tired but immensely satisfied.

'You're unbelievable,' Yuushi complained. He was massaging his wrist which was a little red. Keigo had aimed a few shots at it and it was now paying for it. 'This was a friendly match,' he continued, 'or so I thought…'

'That,' a laughing Keigo said putting his jacket back on, 'was your mistake, Oshitari-kun.'

'Yeah,' the Kansai boy said, 'I always forget that you NEVER play for fun.'

'That's not true,' Keigo protested, feigning offence, 'ore-sama _always_ has fun while beating you guys.'

Yuushi shook his head and then, deciding to change the topic of conversation, he confirmed with Keigo that dinner would be at the usual time. He then took his bag and walked out of the court. Keigo then decided to do some running before heading back to the house. Hopefully that way he'd come up with a way to deal with Ayane.

Keigo welcomed his team mates at exactly ten minutes to seven. In the end, Yuushi had only managed to gather Gakuto Mukahi and Jiroh Akutagawa. Shishido was busy helping Otori and Taki Haginosuke was nowhere to be seen.

'Where's Taki?' Keigo asked while he escorted his team mates to the dinning room.

'He's teaching that second year how to keep the team's records,' Yuushi replied, 'as you know Taki will probably quit the team in September so someone needs to learn how to be the team's treasurer.'

'True,' Keigo agreed. He was going to say something else when he saw Ayane walking towards them. She had let her hair down and Keigo was surprised to see that it was actually rather long. She still looked too pale but at least she was wearing a summer dress. Not the prettiest thing ever but it was definitely an improvement from those ragged jeans and faded t-shirt.

'Good evening,' she said bowing politely.

'Hello,' Yuushi said, returning the bow, 'I'm Yuushi Oshitari and these are Gakuto Mukahi and Jiroh Akutagwa. We're all third years and Atobe's team mates.'

'My name's Ayane Watanabe, it's a pleasure,' she said looking briefly at the three young men. She then glanced at Keigo who looked more than a little miffed that Yuushi had done the introductions on his own accord.

'Let's go inside, shall we?' he said.

The four people followed Keigo into the dining room where some members of the staff were already waiting with the chairs drawn, ready to help them be seated. Keigo had positioned himself at his usual spot at the head of the table while Ayane's plate had been placed to his right. Yuushi was at his left and Jiroh and Gakuto were facing each other. Keigo hoped that Jiroh would remain awake long enough to finish his entrée.

'So,' Yuushi said, looking at Ayane, 'how are you enjoying being back home?'

'I wouldn't know,' Ayane replied, 'I was born in Japan but I've spent most of my life abroad.'

'Really?' Gakuto asked her, 'where?'

'In Switzerland,' Keigo replied for her.

'Switzerland?' Jiroh asked, 'where is that?'

'It's in Europe you silly,' Gakuto replied.

'Ah, really?' Jiroh said. For some reason that made him laugh a little then he muttered something which sounded like, 'so jealous…'

'Ayane-chan,' Yuushi continued, 'do you play tennis?'

'Oh no,' Ayane replied, 'I'm not good at any kind of sports. Not the greatest hand-to-eye coordination, you see…'

She then tried to laugh it off but got interrupted when Gakuto asked:

'Why don't you ask Atobe to teach you?'

Ayane looked at him, then shifted her eyes towards Keigo and, looking very sad, she said:

'I don't think it'd be a good idea. The last time he tried teaching me something…'

Something prevented her from finishing the sentence. Keigo looked at her and saw that her eyes were alarmingly shiny.

'Excuse me,' she muttered quietly, 'I'll be back in a second.'

She got up, leaving the dinning room as fast as she could. Keigo then felt three pairs of eyes focusing on him, all asking for an explanation. Not knowing what to say, he did the next best thing: he got up and followed Ayane out of the room.

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter Three

_A/N: As promised, here's another chapter. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post another one tomorrow but I'll do my best! That said, I'd like to know what you guys think of the story so, please do let me know, okay? As usual, thanks for reading!_

**Match Point**

_Chapter Three_

Keigo caught up with Ayane before the girl could make it to her assigned guest room. Admittedly, he thought she was going to chose the library as her hiding place since she practically lived there. Maybe the silly girl thought he wouldn't follow her to her bedroom, Keigo thought in evil amusement.

By the time he got close enough to her, she already had her hand on the doorknob.

'Wait,' he commanded.

He saw her freeze. She didn't turn but she made no further attempt at trying to open the door. Keigo placed his hand on her shoulder and, pulling towards him, forced her to face him. What he saw made him let go of her shoulder:

She was crying. Again.

'What is wrong with you?' Keigo complained.

Ayane looked at him briefly, her eyes full of fear. That, more than the crying itself, made Keigo feel even angrier. He really found it difficult to understand the way girls behaved but, with this specific one, it seemed to be even harder. And why in the heavens did she cry so much?

'Are you going to tell me or do I have to guess?' Keigo pressed on, a hit of sarcasm marking the last part of the sentence.

She refused to answer, staring at the carpeted corridor as though as it was the most interesting thing on Earth.

Keigo then remembered about his three team mates.

'Look,' he said, 'as you know, I have guests and, unlike you, I have excellent manners. So, right now, I'm going to take care of them. Be happy: ore-sama is _temporarily_ letting you off the hook,' he added, then with an even harsher tone of voice, he warned her, 'don't you think of locking yourself up in the bedroom: I have the mansion's master key.'

Ayane gasped in shock. Untroubled by this, Keigo added:

'You have a lot of explaining to do, and you'll do it tonight.'

With this, he turned around and, walking back down the stairs, he stepped onto each of the steps furiously as though as he was trying to release his anger on them. The cheek that girl had! He thought irritably, he had had more than enough of her rudeness. Maybe she thought she could get away with it where she came from but, this was his house and there were some rules which applied. The main one was that people did exactly what he wanted, when he wanted it.

It was common sense, wasn't it?

He made it back to the dining room feeling slightly less angry and, after instructing one of the maids to take Ayane's dinner to her room, he went to speak to his team mates. Surprisingly enough, Jiroh was still very much awake and probably looking forward to his return as much as Yuushi and Gakuto.

'Hey, Atobe,' Gakuto started looking a tad worried, 'did I say anything wrong?'

'No,' Keigo replied, he then sat back on his chair and said, 'she's got a headache. A very bad one.'

'Oh, really?' Yuushi asked. He clearly hadn't bought the lie, not that Keigo expected him to, Yuushi was, after all, Hyotei's genius.

'At any rate,' Keigo said calmly, 'she's being taken care of so, we shall continue our meal.'

'So, nothing happened?' Jiroh asked, his tone sounding almost indecently disappointed.

'No Jiroh,' Keigo replied, 'everything's under control.'

'Ah,' Hyotei's narcoleptic said. He then looked at Gakuto accusingly and told him, 'that's not what you said.'

'Ahn,' Keigo interjected, 'what was it that you said Mukahi?'

'Nothing,' Gakuto quickly replied, he then clearly kicked Jiroh under the table and said, 'are we going to have any of that wonderful cake your chef prepared the last time we were here?'

'Of course,' Keigo replied. Gakuto wasn't anywhere near as intelligent as his doubles partner but, he did know when to take a hint and, when necessary, he knew how to be diplomatic, especially when dealing with his mighty Captain.

The rest of the meal went on without a glitch and, even though he was probably dying to know, Yuushi never went anywhere within the topic of Ayane and the abrupt manner in which she had left the table. Instead, he very smartly chose to wait till Keigo accompanied them to the mansion's entrance.

'What's wrong with her?' he asked, making sure Gakuto couldn't hear him. Again, the poor guy was busy trying to make sure Jiroh stayed awake for long enough for him to climb in the taxi which was already waiting for them.

'I don't know,' Keigo admitted, 'but I'm going to find out tonight.'

Yuushi let out a soft chuckle and, lowering his tone of voice even more, he half-whispered:

'I'd wish you luck but, since it's you, I think I should wish _her _luck instead…'

'Go home smartass,' Keigo said pretending to be angry. That, of course, only made Yuushi laugh out loud and then, the Kansai boy touched his two fingers to his forehead, in a kind of martial salute, and said:

'I'll talk to you soon.'

Keigo just nodded and then, at long last, he closed the door after seeing his three team mates off. He would absolutely never admit it, not even under torture, but he really liked his team. The guys were, at best, crazy and troublesome but, they were the family he didn't have. And he felt grateful for the company and the endless hours of amusement they usually provided.

That nice sensation disappeared the instant he remembered what he had to do next. Taking a very deep breath, he purposely walked towards the stairs, stopping by the little table which was placed next to the bottom of the banister. The master key to the mansion was hidden in there in a secret compartment.

Not that he would need it. He better not need it, he corrected: if he did…

He prevented that thought from going anywhere. This wasn't the moment to lose it. Something was clearly wrong with her and he wanted to know. He also wanted to know the reason why she was at the mansion at all, since it was obvious she was as unhappy about it as he was.

This time, Keigo decided to be extra-nice and knocked. He even had the decency of waiting for the:

'Come in,' which followed.

Opening the door, he saw that Ayane was sitting at one of the two burgundy Louis XIV armchairs his mother had acquired for this particular guest room. Her dinner, untouched, had been set up on top of a nearby table.

'You haven't eaten,' he pointed out.

'I'm not hungry,' she said. Thankfully she had stopped crying and was going to get up when he motioned to sit down next to her, using the other armchair. That made Ayane stay right where she was.

'I see you haven't changed a bit,' he started.

'What do you mean?' Ayane asked.

'You're still the spoilt little brat I remember from that trip to St Moritz,' he clarified. To his credit, he was keeping an even tone of voice, almost civil. Ayane said nothing to that and Keigo found it most disappointing, 'now,' he continued, 'I don't know what you're used to behave like in that boarding school of yours but, here, in my own house, I don't like it when people embarrass me in front of my friends.'

Ayane started looking mortified.

'That's right,' Keigo carried on, 'you _should_ be sorry. What happened back there? That's what I want to know.'

He waited as patiently as he could for her to start speaking. When she did, it was with a very small voice:

'How can you be so calm about everything?'

'What?' Keigo asked. This was definitely not what he expected to hear.

'You surely know why I'm here,' she said, this time, her voice raised a little.

'Honestly,' Keigo admitted, 'I have no idea.'

That seemed to take Ayane aback and, for a few instants, it seemed like she didn't know what to say either. As if this whole scenario had been, up to then, entirely unthinkable.

'So,' she tried, 'you really don't know?'

'No,' Keigo replied. He was beginning to get mad again, 'I do hope you'll have the goodness to tell me,' he said sarcastically.

'This is just another attempt,' she explained, 'the first was that trip to St Moritz and we all know what happened back there…'

She stopped speaking and that made Keigo get up in anger. He placed himself in front of her and put his hands on his hips. He made sure that his eyes were locked on to hers and said:

'Enough nonsense: tell me clearly what's going on here or I swear I'll have you on a plane back to Zurich tonight!'

Ayane looked frightened and seemed to want to sink into the armchair as much as humanly possible. She then started crying again, she went to cover her face with her hands and, speaking through them, she said:

'This is so embarrassing…'

'Ahn...not again,' he complained. Exasperated, he started walking back and forth on the plush carpet which covered the floor. 'Can you stop crying for five minutes and _talk_ to me?' he nearly shouted.

Finally, Ayane got up from the armchair and, standing right in front of him, she said:

'Our parents want us to get married.'

One second passed, then a full minute. Then Keigo felt like he was going to pass out and it was sheer luck that he managed to find the armchair.

'W-what did you say?' he somehow managed to stutter, with a voice which sounded that of a stranger.

'Our parents want us to get married,' Ayane repeated. Not that it made more sense the second time around but, for some reason, Keigo found that it had got easier for her to say it out loud, maybe it was due to the fact that she had already voiced it once.

'That's not possible,' he concluded. His head was shaking vehemently.

'It is,' she insisted.

'No, it isn't,' he countered, 'it can't be.'

'Why are you so sure?' Ayane asked. She sat back down too.

Keigo looked at her and, fighting to regain his composure, he said with as much confidence as he could muster:

'My parents promised they would _never _arrange a marriage for me.'

'Did they?' Ayane asked, 'what a coincidence,' she added, 'my parents promised the same thing to me.'

'Then,' Keigo said feeling suddenly confused, 'why did you say that?'

'Think about it,' Ayane replied, 'is there any other reason why I would be sent to stay in here when my family owns three properties in the Greater Tokyo area? Also, during that skiing trip, do you really think my father wanted you to teach me how to ski? I live in Switzerland for crying out loud, if I _wanted_ to learn how to ski, I would only have to pick one of the several thousand ski instructors who work there.'

To Keigo, the whole affair was starting to make way too much sense.

'I still think it's impossible,' he persisted.

'I know what you're thinking,' Ayane said, 'and I agree.'

'Oh, you do?' he asked sardonically, 'care to let me know what _I'm _thinking?'

Ayane lowered her eyes and started observing the floor.

'You think that, if your parents had picked a girl for you to marry, they would have done much better than with someone like me.'

Keigo could not believe what he'd heard.

'That has nothing to do with it,' he said.

Ayane remained silent, unsure as to what to say to that. This quiet gave them the chance to ponder several theories and scenarios which could fit with the situation they were in. Keigo started thinking of that infamous trip to St Moritz and what had happened there. The effort made him realise that it was true that at a number of points during the trip, Daitaro Watanabe had done his best to leave his daughter alone with Keigo.

He also had to agree with the fact that it was very strange that, with as many properties as the Watanabe had, only three in Tokyo, as Ayane had already pointed out, they had insisted on having her stay at the Atobe's residence.

Maybe they didn't want her to stay somewhere alone, Keigo ventured.

No, he quickly thought to himself, that made even less sense. Ayane's theory, as alarming as it was, really was pretty flawless. While it was true that both sets of parents had promised their offspring they would not arrange a marriage for them, nothing prevented them from doing whatever they could to make it happen in a more natural way.

Essentially, forcing them to spend time together and hope they would end up falling for each other.

Keigo found that most insulting but then, another thought crept onto him: whereas he understood and shared the horror this theory caused to Ayane, was there any need to look quite so sick about it? He observed the tear-ridden and pale expression on her face as well as the darker-than-ever shadows under her eyes.

She was miserable. Truly and utterly devastated by the thought of being forced to marry him.

All of a sudden, Keigo got up and, without saying anything to a very startled Ayane, he ran out of the room.

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter Four

_A/N: I managed to write this in a lot shorter than I thought. I hope you __guys like it! _

**Match Point**

_Chapter Four_

Aimlessly, Keigo kept running till he was too tired to carry on. Looking around himself and despite the fact that it was already dark, he realised he recognised the area of Tokyo where he was. He glanced up at the middle-sized house in front of him and, although he hadn't paid a visit more than once or twice in the past three years, he knew exactly who lived in it:

Munehiro Kabaji.

He let out a humourless chuckle. The level of dependency he had on the younger but bigger guy was almost scary. At any rate, he needed to speak to Munehiro as soon as possible to see if his best friend could make some sense of what had happened that evening.

'Who is it?' a voice, belonging to Munehiro's mother, answered the door's buzzer.

'Good evening,' Keigo said, 'it's Keigo Atobe, is your son still up?'

'Keigo-san!' the mother's voice exclaimed, she seemed to fumble with something then, he heard the door's mechanism open, 'please come in. I'll tell Munehiro you're here.'

'Thank you,' Keigo said.

A few instants later, he stepped onto the small reception area.

'I'm sorry for coming unannounced,' he said to Munehiro's mother.

'Oh, don't apologise,' she said flushing, 'it's been so long since your last visit!'

Keigo didn't know what to say to that but it didn't matter. Right at that moment Munehiro arrived looking even more flustered than his mother.

'What's wrong?' he asked Keigo.

'Nothing much,' Keigo replied, he then proceeded to remove his trainers so that he could step onto the tatami-covered floor. Munehiro already had his hand drawn forward so that his friend could give him the trainers. Keigo knew better than to argue with Munehiro, he also knew that the second year liked sorting out the shoes at his house entrance.

The three of them were quickly joined by Munehiro's father who had been, up to that moment, watching TV. He looked as surprised as the rest of his family to see the heir of the Atobe Holdings in his house.

'Let's go up,' Munehiro suggested.

Keigo just nodded and proceeded to follow him, after declining Munehiro's mother's offer to get them something to drink. He was desperate for a drink of water but he knew that Munehiro always kept the bottle he used in the tennis club filled with fresh, mineral water.

'Here,' Munehiro said, once the two of them were in his room. Keigo saw that he was offering him just the very bottle he'd been thinking about.

'Thanks, Kabaji,' Keigo said. He sat down on top of the big bed the second year used while Munehiro accommodated himself on the chair he had in front of a laptop, it had been a present from Keigo for his thirteenth birthday.

'I'm sorry for showing up just like that,' Keigo said, 'has your sister gone home already?'

'Yup,' Munehiro replied.

'Good,' Keigo continued, 'I wouldn't have wanted to keep you from her.'

Munehiro's lips twitched in the way Keigo knew meant he was smiling.

'Did you have fun? It's been a while since you last saw her, right?'

'Yup,' Munehiro replied.

'So,' Keigo said, 'you're probably asking yourself what am I doing here, right Kabaji?'

'Yup,' Munehiro confirmed.

Keigo took another gulp of water from the bottle, he then set it aside and proceeded to explain everything which had happened to him that bizarre evening. He loved the fact that Munehiro didn't interrupt him once. Letting him elaborate the conversation so that Munehiro could understand everything.

'It's impossible, right Kabaji?' Keigo asked him when he finished.

His best friend wasn't as fast as usual replying. Instead, he looked like he was trying to find the correct way to phrase what he was really thinking.

'Kabaji, you know my parents, you know that they would never do this to me, right?' Keigo insisted.

'Would it be bad?' Munehiro finally asked.

'What?' Keigo replied, he started thinking that this wasn't the way his best friend usually behaved. If even Munehiro failed him, then the world really was going to come to an end. He waited to see if the second year was going to reply since it looked like the younger boy was thinking hard.

'Er,' he finally started, 'is the girl bad?'

Keigo was taken aback by this question.

'I don't know,' he replied, 'she's spoilt and she cries all the time and I hate it. Also, she's got no taste whatsoever.'

Munehiro seemed to find that information inconsequential so, Keigo added:

'Plus, she can't play tennis, or ski, or…'

He stopped speaking seeing that Munehiro was totally failing to get the point.

'Look,' Keigo said, 'I'm not even sure this whole, crazy theory of hers is true, okay?'

'She's right though,' Munehiro objected. Yet another out of character remark, but one that frightened Keigo since, the very few times his best friend actually contradicted him, were usually for a very good reason.

'What should I do then?' Keigo asked.

'I don't know,' Munehiro replied.

'You think I should try and see things from her point of view, right Kabaji?'

The bigger boy just tilted his head a little, as though as he was unsure whether to say the truth or not. Ultimately, he decided it was safe to do so and nodded once:

'Yup,' he added, just in case.

'And then what?' Keigo pressed on.

Munehiro just shrugged his large shoulders, then his mouth twitched again. Keigo could have sworn the guy was actually having fun seeing Keigo so lost, if it weren't because Munehiro was way too pure and simple to be malicious, Keigo would have felt mortally offended by it all.

'Okay,' Keigo continued, 'can I stay here for the night? I don't feel like going back home…'

'Sure,' Munehiro said, his whole face lightening up like a Christmas Tree. That made Keigo laugh.

'It's being a great day for you today, right Kabaji?'

'Yup!' Munehiro exclaimed happily, then, getting up from his chair, walked out of the room, probably to ask his mother to prepare the guest room for Keigo. True, the conversation hadn't gone exactly as expected but Keigo indeed felt a whole lot better. Just as he thought he would.

The next day was Monday and Keigo called his chauffer to bring his school things as well as the car to the Kabaji so, after having breakfast with them, Keigo and Munehiro were driven to Hyotei Gakuen. That was nothing out of the ordinary, the two of them went to school together every day.

'Good morning,' Yuushi said seeing Keigo climbing out of his limo, 'did we sort things out?'

'Yes,' Keigo lied.

The rest of the morning proceeded normally: teachers were in their usual careful-mode whenever talking to him, girls nearly fainted whenever they thought Keigo's glance had gone anywhere near them and he had the highest marks in the latest World History test.

Business, at least at school, was as usual.

That afternoon Wakashi Hiyoshi asked him if he could spare some time to oversee the training session so, instead of going straight home, Keigo, along with a few of the third years, stayed at school playing some tennis.

In the end, it wasn't until nearly six o'clock that he and Munehiro made it back to the mansion and, when they got there, they saw a tall, blond teenaged boy, obviously a foreigner, standing right outside the big gate which kept unwanted people outside the mansion.

'Who is that?' Keigo asked the chauffer.

'I don't know, Keigo-bocchama,' the man replied.

'Stop the car,' Keigo ordered. He then went to open the window and, in perfect English, he called out, 'hey, are you lost?'

'No,' the foreigner replied, 'this is the Atobe's residence, right?'

'Yes,' Keigo told him, then speaking in Japanese and to his chauffer, he said, 'I want to get out.'

Two seconds later, he climbed out of the car, his chauffer holding the door for him. Munehiro remained in the car since he hadn't been told to do otherwise. Keigo didn't mind, instead, he turned his attention back to the foreigner and said, still speaking in English:

'I'm Keigo Atobe, what do you want from us?'

'My name is Matthias Wurz,' the foreigner said, 'I'm from Zurich and I'm looking for Ayane Watanabe.'

Keigo did a very quick, almost imperceptible double-take. He then switched to German and said:

'What makes you think she's here?'

'You speak German?' the guy called Matthias asked.

'I obviously do,' Keigo replied, still in prefect German.

'Wow, I'm impressed,' Matthias replied. He did look like he was.

'So,' Keigo said, 'what makes you think this Ayane Watanabe is here?'

'The fact that her maid told me she was,' Matthias replied.

'And you usually trust some stranger's word?' Keigo asked.

'She's not a stranger,' Matthias countered, 'the maid in question used to work for my family, she basically raised me so she has no reason to lie to me. Mind you, it took some persuasion for her to tell me where Ayane was.'

'I see,' Keigo said, 'you said you're from Zurich…'

'Yes,' Matthias replied, 'I was born in Geneva but my family's from Zurich.'

'I happen to have friends in Zurich,' Keigo said conversationally, 'you wouldn't happen to know of the Christens or the Schultz, would you?'

Matthias titled his head a fraction.

'I know of a Christen family, they own one of the largest construction companies in Switzerland. I have no idea of who the Schultz are, I'm afraid.'

Keigo observed Matthias for a moment. He then nodded.

'No, you wouldn't, because I just made them up.'

Matthias frowned.

'You were testing me,' he concluded.

'Correct,' Keigo said.

'So, did I pass?'

'I don't know yet,' Keigo replied, 'for now, I'll tell you that Ayane is, as you said, staying at the mansion. I do want to know what your relationship with her is before I let you in.'

'I'm her best friend,' Matthias claimed, 'her very worried best friend,' he added.

'Worried?' Keigo asked.

'Yes,' Matthias replied, 'I haven't seen or heard from Ayane in over a week. The last time I did she wasn't in a very good place and I really need to know the reason why she hasn't called me.'

'Why was she in a bad place?' Keigo asked.

'I don't know,' Matthias replied, 'she mentioned something about some family problems she was having and something about an acquaintance of hers being involved. She was very upset about the whole thing but I never got any more information from her. The Montana, that's our school, closed for the summer holidays and she simply disappeared. It's taken me a week to figure out where she was.'

'And you found us,' Keigo said, 'you must have a lot of contacts and resources to pull that off.'

'Well,' Matthias said, 'I don't like to brag about it but my family…well, we're bankers. Have been since the sixteenth century.'

'I see,' Keigo said, then he remembered where he'd heard the Wurz name before: his friend Karl Christen had mentioned it to him during one of their weekly phone calls. This guy's family weren't just bankers: they owned several of the most important banks in Switzerland, if he wasn't mistaken, even Atobe Holdings had an account with one of those banks.

'So,' Matthias said, 'can I please see Ayane?'

Keigo felt more than tempted to say 'no' but, all things considered, he thought that not only it would be extremely rude to do that but also, he somehow knew the Swiss guy would not take that as an answer.

For this reason, he turned to his chauffer and ordered him to open the gate, then, he looked back to Matthias and said:

'Do you want to climb into the car or would you rather walk to the entrance?'

'I'll walk, if you don't mind,' Matthias replied.

'No, I don't mind,' Keigo replied, 'in fact, we'll walk with you.'

Munehiro took that as his cue to climb out of the limo. Keigo had to fight with himself to keep a straight face seeing Matthias' shock while observing the huge frame which was now straightening in all its tall glory right in front of him.

The Swiss guy was tall, taller than Keigo, but nothing compared to Munehiro.

'Please meet _my _best friend, Munehiro Kabaji,' Keigo said, enjoying himself thoroughly.

'Hello,' Matthias said, attempting to speak Japanese.

'Kabaji speaks perfect English and German,' Keigo commented.

'Ah,' Matthias said, then switching back to German and speaking to Munehiro, he asked, 'are you one hundred percent Japanese?'

Munehiro looked confused then, he said:

'Yup.'

'You don't look it.'

Munehiro simply ignored the comment and started making his way to the mansion.

'He's a man of few words, isn't he?' Matthias observed.

'He is,' Keigo replied.

'But you're not,' Matthias continued.

'Not, I'm not,' Keigo confirmed.

'What an interesting friendship you two have,' Matthias commented.

'What's the type of friendship you have with Ayane?' Keigo asked.

'The one which will last forever,' Matthias replied. Keigo, not knowing what to say, just nodded. They made the rest of the way in silence, giving Keigo the time to try and decide what he really thought of the newcomer.

He still hadn't come up with a conclusion when, all of a sudden, Matthias started running towards the entrance's stairs. Keigo looked up and saw that Ayane was there and she too was running down the steps.

'Matt!' he heard her shouting.

'Aya!' the Swiss guy shouted back. Then Ayane jumped towards him and the two hugged so tightly that it seemed like they wanted to fuse to each other. Keigo noticed the way Munehiro looked first at the scene, then at him. The second year's lips seemed to twitch a bit.

'When you're done with the happy reunion,' Keigo said with a large dose of sarcasm, 'you two can come inside. Kabaji and I will be at the pool.'

Without waiting to see if they broke the embrace off, he stormed into the mansion, ignoring the welcome home the staff usually greeted him with. If only he could just go and jump into the pool with his school uniform…

Alas, he couldn't even do that. Not today anyway.

'Manners first, right Kabaji?' he said.

The poor Munehiro didn't have a clue what to answer so, just in case, he said:

'Yup.'

Keigo let out a dry chuckle and prepared himself to deal with, no longer one but, two troublesome guests.

_To be continued…_


	6. Chapter Five

_A/N: This chapter was a little difficult to write. I hope I'm managing to keep everyone more or less in-character! As always, thanks to those of you who are reading this._

**Match Point**

_Chapter Five_

Being the efficient host he was, in the short time it took for Matthias and Ayane to get to the pool, Keigo had already arranged for the maids to bring them iced tea as well as some finger food, in case any of them were hungry. The three of them sat down while Munehiro grabbed a few mini-hotdogs to feed Beat so that the dog would be too busy to attack the newcomer.

For once, Keigo wished his best friend wasn't quite so sensible.

'Would you like some tea?' he asked Matthias. Keigo was surprised that he sounded so civil.

'Yes please,' Matthias replied then, while the maid poured him the cold drink, the Swiss guy looked at Ayane and said, 'I don't know how you can stand this humidity. It really is too hot in Tokyo.'

Ayane laughed a little and said:

'It's not that's too hot in here, is just that summer in Zurich is, at best, very mild.'

'Too true,' Matthias conceded, he then took a large gulp of tea, enjoying the cooling it provided and, glancing at Keigo, he said, 'you know, Aya hates the cold, she really doesn't like it when it snows in Zurich.'

'Well,' Keigo said, 'it really doesn't snow very often here in Tokyo. Maybe in January or February but it never lasts for more than one or two days.'

'But this isn't Zurich, is it Aya?' Matthias asked her.

'No, it isn't,' Ayane replied.

'She loves Zurich,' Matthias added staring intently at Keigo before looking at Ayane, 'there's nothing better than home, is there?'

Keigo remained silent, almost as though as he was challenging Ayane to speak her mind. She didn't and Matthias took it upon himself to keep the conversation going.

'Speaking of home,' he said, 'why did you leave Zurich so suddenly? You know, it shocked me that you didn't even tell me you were leaving.'

'I know,' Ayane said, 'I'm sorry, it's just that…'

'You weren't given the time,' Matthias finished for her.

'Yes,' Ayane confirmed.

'Did you also leave your phone back home?' Matthias asked. Keigo knew that, beneath that casual tone, the Swiss boy was probably fuming. He had to give it to the guy: his self-restrain was nearly as good as his own. He didn't even react when Ayane just nodded, 'I see,' he said instead.

'I'm sorry,' Ayane said.

'No worries,' Matthias said, he then grabbed her hand and gave it a little squeeze, 'I'm here now and that's all it matters.'

Ayane smiled at him. It was a real smile, Keigo noticed. He'd never seen her smile like that and he wasn't quite ready to deal with the way he felt seeing her with such a relieved expression. The Hyotei Captain was about to say something when a butler approached the group.

'Keigo-bocchama,' the middle-aged man said, 'we need to consult you with something.'

'Of course,' Keigo said then, looking at his guests, he said, 'if you please excuse me.'

They did and Keigo followed the butler to one of the doors which gave access to the mansion. There, the butler stopped and asked the master of the house if the newcomer was going to stay for dinner. Keigo considered the situation and, very reluctantly, issued the order:

'I guess it's inevitable: prepare for four.'

'Thank you, sir,' the butler said. He then retreated as quickly as he'd come.

Keigo was left with the unpleasant chore of informing Matthias that he was, if he wanted, invited to stay for dinner and since he wanted to get it done was soon as possible, he made his way back to the table where he found Ayane laughing at something Matthias had just said. He froze there and observed the scene for a short while till Ayane, noticing his presence, stopped laughing.

'Keigo…' she started.

'Matthias,' he interrupted her, 'I take you don't have any previous arrangements so, maybe you'd like to join us for dinner.'

Translation: you're a dateless loser and ore-sama is honouring you with a meal at his abode, Keigo thought as a way to keep himself smiling. The Swiss guy didn't seem to notice anything and replied:

'I'll be happy to, Aya and I have a bit of catching up to do so I was about to suggest we'd all go out for dinner.'

'Well,' Keigo said still keeping on a very fake smile, 'this takes care of it, doesn't it?'

'It does,' Matthias replied.

The two young men looked at each other for a long while. Ayane then stood up and announced that she was going to get changed for dinner. Matthias was about to say something when Ayane interrupted him and, speaking to Keigo, she said:

'Shouldn't you get changed as well?'

Keigo realised he was still wearing his school uniform and, glad to be given the chance to get away from the Swiss guy, he accompanied Ayane back inside the mansion. Munehiro was left in charge of entertaining Matthias, something which would have amused Keigo beyond belief if it weren't because he actually cared about his best friend.

'Thank you,' Ayane said once the two of them were alone.

'What for?' Keigo asked. He wished he could walk faster so that they'd get to the stairs more quickly.

'For inviting Matthias to stay for dinner,' she replied, 'I know you didn't have to, after all, he showed up unannounced.'

'Whose fault is that?' Keigo asked a little more harshly than he had intended.

'Mine,' Ayane admitted, 'I'm sorry about that too.'

Keigo glanced at her. He found he didn't like what he saw: she was, once again, looking utterly miserable. He asked himself if she'd ever smile at him the way she'd just smiled at Matthias. For some weird reason, he felt compelled to say:

'Don't worry about it.'

He then decided to leave her behind climbing the stairs two at a time so that he could put as much distance between the girl and himself. The effect she had on him was way too disturbing and being alone with her made him feel confused.

At exactly seven o'clock, just like the previous evening, the maids started serving dinner. Ayane had decided to braid her long hair, tying it with a short, dark blue ribbon which matched the dress she was wearing. For the first time, she actually looked like the high-society girl she was supposed to be.

'You look lovely,' Matthias told her.

'Thank you,' she said, smiling at him.

Keigo cleared his throat and said, 'I thought you said you only packed your comfiest clothes.'

'I did,' Ayane said, 'this dress _is_ comfortable.'

'Why didn't you wear it last night?' Keigo nearly demanded. Ayane didn't reply to that and an oblivious Matthias asked:

'Isn't this the dress your mother got you when she went to Barcelona?'

'Yes, it is,' Ayane replied.

'It's much better than that little number she got you from Milan,' Matthias commented.

'Yes,' Ayane concurred, 'please don't remind me of that one!'

'It _was_ truly heinous,' Matthias accepted, 'what happened to it, anyway?'

'Alexandra gave it to that stylist friend of hers,' Ayane explained, 'apparently she wanted to use the fabric for one of her designs.'

'Trust Alexandra to always do what's best for _her_,' Matthias said shaking his head.

'Who is Alexandra?' Keigo asked, in an attempt to get involved in the conversation.

'She's my sister,' Matthias replied, 'and Aya's classmate.'

'I thought you were her classmate,' Keigo commented.

'No, no,' Ayane said, 'Alexandra is my classmate, Matthias is a year above us so, he's our senpai.'

'Ah, I see,' Keigo said.

'Alexandra is also my room-mate,' Ayane continued, 'we've been sharing the bedroom at boarding school since our first year. She's like a sister to me.'

'Ahn, that makes you their brother, right?' Keigo asked Matthias.

'Not quite,' he quickly replied, 'one kid-sister is more than enough for me.'

Keigo stared at Matthias while the maid changed the entrée with the main course. He then pretended to busy himself with the British style roast beef they had just been served.

'Matt,' Ayane said, 'what are you going to do tomorrow?'

'I don't know,' he replied, 'what do you suggest?'

'We could go and do some sightseeing,' Ayane proposed.

'Well,' Matthias said, 'we could always do some shopping together…'

'I thought you said you didn't like shopping,' Keigo intervened looking at Ayane.

'She doesn't,' Matthias replied, 'but I do.'

'I was asking her,' Keigo observed. The Swiss guy was beginning to get on his nerves.

'I don't like shopping, but I can make an exception' Ayane said, she then gave a warning look at Matthias which didn't escape Keigo's attention. He felt something warm inside seeing Matthias' eyes suddenly drop to stare at his plate, 'it's probably because of Mother that I hate the word 'shopping' so much,' Ayane then continued, still speaking to Keigo, 'you know what our mothers are like…'

'Yes,' Keigo said, 'every chance is a good one to go and buy something.'

'Exactly,' Ayane said, 'and Mother seems to think that good parenting is directly proportioned with the amount of stuff she gets me, rather than actually spending her time with me.'

Keigo understood very well what that concept meant. He had written the book in self-upbringing.

'Our parents really don't have a clue, do they?' Matthias asked smiling widely, 'Father thinks that quality time is having a phone conference with Alexandra and I twice a week instead of the usual one.'

Having finally found a topic of conversation which was more or less common to the three of them meant that Keigo managed to make it to the end of the evening with only a mild headache to remind him of the amount of tension he'd been dealing with for the past few days.

Also, seeing that Matthias could actually be a likable character and if one forgot the way he kept trying to show off just how much he knew Ayane, Keigo was almost prepared to forgive the guy for his very untimely arrival.

Keigo hadn't even finished forming that thought when Matthias messed things up again; getting up from the table, he produced a business card and, handing it to Ayane, he said:

'This is where I'm staying. You know, just in case…'

Ayane looked first at Keigo, then at Matthias. She shook her head.

'Thank you Matt, but I'd rather stay here.'

Keigo steeled his expression so that he would not betray any emotion. In reality, he wanted to stick his tongue out and tell Matthias where to put both the card and his offer. Instead, he limited himself to enjoy the disappointment which Matthias did show on his face.

'If that's what you want,' the Swiss boy said.

'Yes,' Ayane replied firmly.

'Say, Matthias,' Keigo said as casually as he could, 'do you play tennis?'

The blond guy looked at him just for a second before nodding.

'I do, but I don't have any of my gear with me.'

'Oh, don't worry,' Keigo said, 'I'm sure we'll have something which will fit you at the Club...'

'The Club?' Matthias asked.

'Yes,' Keigo said, 'the Atobe Sports Club. If you give me that card,' he then said, talking to Ayane, 'I can have a car at that address to pick the two of you up at, say five o'clock.'

Matthias seemed to be dying to tell him to go to hell when a very collaborative Ayane handed the business card to Keigo. It read Seiyo Ginza, it was a five-star hotel and a popular choice for rich, foreign travellers.

'Five o'clock?' Keigo repeated.

'Yes,' the Swiss finally answered, 'that should give us enough time to catch up, right Ayane?'

'Of course,' Ayane replied.

'Deal then,' Matthias said smiling at Ayane. His smile lowered a little when he looked at Keigo who, in turn, looked completely unperturbed; he found that taunting Matthias was quickly becoming a great way to keep himself entertained.

A few moments later, the Swiss boy climbed into a taxi and shortly after, Keigo's butlers closed the main entrance's doors. Munehiro had already gone out to the garden, probably to play a little bit with Beat before he went to the room he usually occupied in his stays at the mansion. This left Ayane and Keigo alone for the first time since the start of the evening.

'Keigo,' she started, probably sensing that Keigo was going to leave her behind, 'I'm really grateful for what you did today. I know Matt can be…'

'I told you before,' Keigo interrupted her, 'you don't need to worry about it.'

'I know,' Ayane said. Then, as if it were an afterthought, she added, 'I was wondering…'

'What is it now?' Keigo asked. He wanted to kick himself for the snappy tone he'd used for it made Ayane's expression become as sad as it'd been before Matthias had shown up, 'sorry…' he tried softening his voice. That did the trick because Ayane said:

'Do you want to talk about, you know, what happened last night? You left all of a sudden and…'

'There's nothing to talk about,' Keigo said. He simply wasn't ready to go there yet.

'But…'

'Goodnight Ayane,' he said and, with that, he left her there, standing in the middle of the mansion's reception area where she remained for a few instants. Then, following an impulse, Ayane started running after him, feeling that it was imperative they finished the conversation, whether he wanted it or not.

She made it all the way to the large staircase which led to the upper floor where she found Munehiro standing there. The big guy forced her to stop.

'Kabaji-kun,' she stared, 'I need to…'

'I know,' the boy said. He then shook his head and said, 'is not good now.'

'Kabaji-kun,' Ayane repeated, this time more desperately.

'Tomorrow is better,' Munehiro said. His lips twitched a little he then pointed at his t-shirt and said, 'I remember you.'

Ayane looked very confused and that made her ask:

'You remember me?'

'Yup,' Munehiro replied, 'the Captain's 10th birthday party. You helped with my shirt.'

Ayane was having trouble deciding what shocked her the most: that she'd already met this giant of a boy before and she had forgotten it or that he actually remembered it.

'You're good,' Munehiro stated confidently. After that, his lips twitched again and, with a big hand, he waved at her in what she took it as a very peculiar way of saying 'good night' and, for the second time in a row, Ayane just stood there unable to do anything other than stare at the void.

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter Six

_A/N: Half way through! __Just to let you know, in case you're interested, I should be finished in about three to four more chapters. I hope you're enjoying the story and, to those who have left one, many thanks for your reviews! _

_EDIT: In reply to the review left by 'someone out there', I would like to thank you for your tips but I'd like to argue the fact that you said my vision of Atobe (and Kabaji) are OOC. It is true that Atobe *seems* calm and composed most of the time but there are a few moments during the manga and anime where you can see that Atobe isn't really that calm. For instance, in the anime, after he watches Tezuka playing seriously, he gets so freaked out that he needs to go home and jump fully dressed into the pool so that he calms down enough to start thinking clearly again. That, is what makes me think that Atobe isn't really so together and that beneath that King of Hyotei persona, there is a someone who's rather lonely but who is a master at putting up a good show. Also, it's true that Kabaji is inexpressive but, again, I think that there's a lot more to his relationship with Atobe than just carrying his bag and follow him around. _

_But again, I could be wrong since this is just my own personal interpretation, which is, after all, the whole point of writing a fanfiction, is it not? _

_At any rate, don't worry, your comments have been duly noted and will be part of my become-a-better-writer manual. _

_Now, on with..._

**Match Point**

_Chapter Six_

That morning at the Atobe mansion every member of the staff knew that they had to be even more careful than usual. The reason: their young master was in a very dark mood indeed. The cause: Ayane had left very early in the morning before letting him know.

'What did you say?' Keigo asked the butler who had had the misfortune of informing him.

'Ayane-sama requested for a car to take her to the Seiyo Hotel,' the poor man repeated. He was beginning to regret having volunteered to go and wake up the Atobe heir, 'she also said that she would have breakfast with Wurz-sama.'

'That bitch…'

'Munehiro-sama is waiting for you at the breakfast room,' the butler said, hoping that the mention of the master's best friend would calm him down somewhat.

'Tell him I'll be down shortly,' Keigo ordered. The butler then retired and Keigo finally got out of bed.

It had become quickly obvious to everyone who worked at the mansion that today, more than usual, they had to make themselves invisible. Failing to do that would mean suffering the wrath of one Keigo Atobe, something which was, at best, most unpleasant.

Things didn't get any better for Keigo's classmates and the news about his bad temper travelled so fast that even the usually cool and distant Yuushi Oshitari decided to stay away from him. At least until the end of the day, then Yuushi cornered Keigo before the Captain could leave the school.

'What's up with you today?' the Kansai boy asked him, looking around himself to make sure they were alone.

'I have no idea what you're talking about,' Keigo nearly barked.

'Sure you don't,' Yuushi said, 'thing is, it does make me think that it's got something to do with your guest.'

'Shut up Oshitari,' Keigo warned.

'What is it?' Yuushi pressed on, 'you're falling for her and she's immune to your charm?'

Keigo grabbed Yuushi by the front of his shirt and, with a very low tone of voice, he said:

'_That _will _never _happen, understood?'

The Captain released Yuushi just as abruptly. Then, he stormed off leaving a stunned Yuushi behind. He was used to Keigo's flamboyant ways but he had never seen him lose it this badly. Shaking his head, he let out a whistle and said, talking to no one in particular:

'Anymore in denial and he'll convince himself…'

Meanwhile, Keigo decided to go to the Atobe Sports Club straight from school so that he could do some workout before his match with Matthias. Upon his arrival at the Club, he locked himself in the training room, making sure he would not be disturbed.

It was a good thing he was in semi-retirement because, right now, he doubted he would have been able to deal with any of the members of the Hyotei Tennis Club. Not even Munehiro.

At around five, he took a long shower and put on a pair of white shorts and a white and red t-shirt. He then grabbed a towel and made his way to the tennis court A where he started warming up for the match.

Matthias and Ayane arrived shortly after quarter past five and the two of them were merrily chatting about something they had seen together. Matthias had a few bags in his hand but that wasn't what Keigo noticed; what he did notice was that Matthias other hand was around Ayane's shoulders. Anyone who saw them would think they were a couple.

'Hi,' Matthias said. Ayane just tried to smile at him. She then did something weird because she removed herself from the Swiss guy's grasp and, taking a few of the bags from him, she went to find a seat outside the court.

'I'll go and get changed,' Matthias said. His tone suggested he was less than happy about what had just happened.

'About your gear …' Keigo started.

'Don't worry,' Matthias cut him short, 'I got a few things for the match,' he added, showing him a huge bag from a very well known sports shop. Poking out of it, Keigo could see the handle of a Prince racquet.

Unbelievable, Keigo thought, the guy had bought a brand new racquet just for one game. And then people accused _him_ of being a spendaholic!

'Is that an EX03?' he asked the Swiss guy before he could walk away.

'Yes,' Matthias replied, 'I'm impressed, you just figured that out by seeing the handle?'

'Ore-sama is a great tennis connoisseur,' Keigo said arrogantly.

'Ore-sama?' Matthias asked. Keigo realised that he had used his usual Japanese pronoun in a sentence in German, thus, the poor Swiss guy had little chances of knowing what it meant, 'what's that supposed to mean?'

'Get changed and I'll show you what it means,' Keigo just said.

Matthias frowned a little but, deciding it was better to ignore the whole thing, he followed a member of the Club's staff who was already waiting for him. Meanwhile, Keigo glanced at the bench on which Ayane was sitting. The girl was reading a magazine, he didn't know which one it was but he was sure it was one of the glossy publications girls liked so much.

'So,' he called her, 'did you have fun?'

'Yes,' Ayane replied. She didn't even bother looking up at him.

'What did you do?' Keigo asked.

'Nothing much,' she replied, her eyes still fixed on the magazine, 'did some shopping, visited a couple of museums and the Imperial Palace.'

'Ah,' Keigo said, 'what does our Swiss Cheese think of Tokyo?'

That made her look at him.

'Don't call him that,' she said defensively.

'Why not?' he challenged.

'It's not nice,' she replied.

Keigo laughed. A dry, humourless laugh. Then, deciding this conversation wasn't going anywhere, Ayane reassumed her reading leaving Keigo with no option but to go back to the court where he started practicing his serves.

Five minutes later, Matthias rejoined them clad in his newly bought tennis attire. He was already swinging the racquet, as though as he was testing it. Keigo observed his movements and realised that the guy hadn't been lying: he looked as comfortable with this racquet as Keigo did with his own.

'The hotel's staff looked for it all morning,' Matthias said, clearly referring to the EX03 in his hand, 'I simply can't play with any other racquet.'

'I see,' Keigo said. He then waited for Matthias to be on the other side of the net and added, 'do you want to do some warming up first?'

'No,' Matthias replied, 'we've been walking all day so I think my muscles are warmed enough already.'

'If that's so,' Keigo said, 'let's play. You have the serve.'

'Why?' Matthias asked.

'Because you're the guest and,' he stopped and looked at Ayane who had put the magazine down, 'I'm being nice.'

Matthias clearly didn't understand the connotation of that line, instead, he nodded and, taking a ball out of his pocket, he walked to the baseline so he could serve. Keigo repressed a chuckle seeing Ayane's expression: she was nearly begging him to take it easy on her friend.

Right.

As if.

The Swiss guy finally served. It was a fast ball with quite a lot of spin but, considering how Keigo was used to much faster and much more powerful serves, returning Matthias' was a piece of cake. Not only, he even managed to do return-ace without even messing his hair.

'Not bad,' Matthias commented.

Keigo had to give it to the guy: he knew how to keep his cool.

Soon enough, it came his turn to serve. He had already established the kind of strategy he would adopt, keeping it as light and easy as he could so that Matthias would, hopefully, lower his guard. Then…

'Hey,' the Swiss guy called after they had been playing for a while, 'is this all you can do?'

Keigo looked at the score, five games to four. He was also leading the current game thirty-fifteen. It was too soon to do what he wanted so he just smiled at his opponent. The kind of smile which whoever knew him well would have been terrified to see.

He spared a moment to look at Ayane, the girl seemed to be worried. Did she suspect what was about to happen? Keigo almost hoped so, that would teach her to leave the mansion without telling him!

At the match point, Matthias responded to Keigo's volley in exactly the way the Hyotei Captain expected: using a high lob. Keigo then jumped as high as he could and, smashing the ball, he aimed it with pinpoint precision to Matthias' wrist.

Predictably enough, the guy let go of his racquet but the powerful shot sent the ball up and back to Keigo who, ready for it, just smashed it again completing the Rondo to Destruction he was so famous for.

'MATT!' he heard Ayane's scream even before his feet touched the ground.

The girl ran into the court, her face displaying a mix of fear and anger as well as a dose of disbelief.

'Are you okay?' she said anxiously, wrapping Matthias' right wrist gently with her two hands.

'Yeah,' Matthias replied, 'it's nothing.'

That was a blatant lie, Keigo decided. He knew he had imprinted enough power to the first smash to hurt him. He had done it on purpose so there was no mistake: Matthias had to be in pain. Not serious but enough to make him uncomfortable.

'It looks like you lost,' Keigo bragged, touching his racquet's frame to the ground and using the tip of the handle as support.

'Keigo!' Ayane exclaimed. She still hadn't let go of Matthias' hand.

'Forget it,' the Swiss said, 'he beat me _fair_ and _square_,' he added. Keigo noticed the emphasis in the two words and that made him smile even more. He was enjoying it until he saw Ayane's hurt expression while she looked at him.

'Let's go,' she said to Matthias, 'we should put some ice on it.'

'Yeah,' Matthias said. He then let Ayane help him out of the court, making an unnecessary pantomime about keeping the injured hand up. Keigo really couldn't believe what he was seeing. Then, just as Ayane and Matthias were stepping out of the court, the latter turned round and gave him the smuggest of all smiles.

'Bastard,' Keigo muttered. He waited till both of them were out of sight then, with pent up frustration, he threw the racquet onto the ground and stormed off, making his way to his private changing room.

Ayane didn't get back to the mansion until several hours later, telling the staff that she had already had dinner and asking where the master was. They told her that Keigo was taking a swim and, without thinking too much about it, she walked purposely towards the pool.

Keigo was about to climb out of the water when he saw her. She looked, if possible, even angrier at him than she'd been back at the Club. He made his way up the stairs as slowly as possible and then he realised something rather interesting: she was looking away from him.

'Hey,' he started, 'not embarrassed, are you?'

'Please put something on,' she literally begged.

While he stood there, in all his wet glory, he seriously considered the possibility of defying her but, yet again, she had actually went out searching for him and that, if his memory didn't fail him, was the first time it had happened.

Only for this reason he grabbed the bathrobe one of the members of the staff had already prepared for him making a big deal about putting it on.

'There,' he said, clearly teasing her, 'are you happy now?'

She glanced back at him. Her expression looked anything but happy.

'Can you please,' she started, 'explain to me what happened back at the Club?'

'What's there to explain?' he asked, doing his best to appear innocent as an angel.

'Why did you have to do…whatever is that you did,' she asked him.

'The Rondo to Destruction?' he supplied helpfully.

'Yes,' she replied, 'that. You hurt Matthias, you know that?' she asked him.

'Ahn,' he said, 'I'm sure he'll survive.'

'That's not the point!' she exclaimed, 'you didn't need to do that!'

'Oh, come on now,' Keigo said, 'it's not my fault the guy can't play tennis.'

'What?' Ayane exclaimed, her voice kept increasing its pitch as the conversation went along, 'he was keeping up with you rather nicely…'

'As, if,' he said separating both words, 'look, if I had played anywhere near seriously, he wouldn't even have smelled the ball.'

'You're such an…,' she started only to interrupt herself.

'I'm a what?' he challenged her.

'An arrogant pig,' she said spitting the words. She then covered her mouth and widened her eyes as though as she couldn't believe what she'd said.

'Oh,' Keigo said slapping his forehead theatrically, he then said very sarcastically, 'your words wound my sensitive soul.'

'I'm sorry,' she said nevertheless, 'I shouldn't…'

'No,' he said sobering up, 'you shouldn't.'

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, till Ayane started turning away. For some reason, probably because he didn't want to lose sight of her quite so quickly, he said:

'Alright, ore-sama will apologise.'

'What?' she asked.

'I am sorry I hurt Matthias,' he said hoping his obvious lie sounded half-way honest.

'Really?' she asked, her lips started curving up a little.

'Yes,' he replied, then, something within him made him add, 'though it's not my fault your boyfriend's so weak…'

Ayane's smile died even before it had formed and, frowning at him, she said:

'What did you say?'

'Are you deaf?' he asked rhetorically, 'I said that it's not my fault your boyfriend's so weak.'

'That's not true,' Ayane said defensively.

'Which part?' Keigo challenged, he knew he was being obnoxious.

'Neither,' Ayane replied, 'he's not weak and he's not my boyfriend.'

'That's not what it looked like this afternoon,' Keigo said. He was impressing himself with his cool attitude, considering how much it had hurt him to see them with Matthias' arm wrapped around her.

'I told you before,' Ayane pressed, 'he's my best friend...'

'You're so naïve,' he interrupted her, 'do you really think he sees you the same way?'

Ayane didn't reply immediately. Instead, she frowned even more. Then, she closed her eyes but not quickly enough. Keigo knew she was about to start crying and that freaked him out.

'It doesn't matter,' she muttered so quietly he nearly didn't hear her.

'What?' he asked her. This time he dropped all his attitude and sarcasm and decided to be himself, 'what is it that doesn't matter?'

'What Matthias and I feel for each other,' she said. Keigo's heart skipped a beat. He felt like running away that very instant and, for the first time in his life, he understood the full meaning of the word self-preservation. He was about to leave when Ayane continued, 'even if we were in love with each other, we wouldn't have a future.'

Conditional. She was using the conditional, Keigo repeated himself.

'Why not?' he asked her, this conversation had become a lot more crucial than he'd expected.

Ayane looked at him with that same hurt expression he'd seen at the tennis court.

'Can you really see my father accepting a foreigner as the future owner of the Watanabe Group?'

Keigo pondered that for a very short while before coming to the only available conclusion.

'No,' he said then, without giving Ayane time to say it, he voiced it himself, 'which is where I come into the picture, right Ayane?'

'Yes,' the girl replied.

Keigo was going to say something when a butler came rushing towards them. The old man looked highly distressed, glancing first at Ayane, then addressing himself to the master of the house:

'Keigo-bocchama,' he said, 'Wurz-sama is at the door. He says he's here to take Ayane-sama back to Zurich.'

_To be continued…_


	8. Chapter Seven

_A/N: Sorry about the delay. Since I edited chapter three, I was too tired to edit this one last night so I had to do leave it to tonight. I already have the following chapter written but I still need to edit it. __I'll have it up tomorrow. As usual, thanks for reading and special mentions go to everyone who has reviewed, added this little fanfic of mine to their favourites or story alerts. _

_Also, if anyone wants to see Kabaji smile, look shocked and very sad, watch __Atobe's Gift.__ Most of my take on his relationship with Atobe comes from that OVA. _

**Match Point**

_Chapter Seven_

Ayane was the first to react to the news. She turned around and started walking away when Keigo's voice stopped her:

'Where do you think you're going?' he asked her.

'I…' she hesitated, 'I'll go and talk to him,' she finished but she remained right where she was.

'What are you going to tell him?' Keigo asked. He was very proud of being able to keep an even tone.

'I don't know yet,' she replied honestly then, before he could speak again, she walked away from him. Once she was gone, he realised his skin was covered with goose-bumps, he decided that it was due to the fact he had not fully dried himself after climbing out of the water. It definitely had nothing to do with Ayane.

Meanwhile, the girl went to the mansion's reception area where, according to the butler, Matthias had been asked to wait. She found him pacing back and forth impatiently but he stopped the instant he saw her. Closing the short distance between them, he placed his hands on her shoulders staring hard at her and he said:

'You can't stay here.'

'Matt…'

'Aya,' he interrupted her, 'I don't care what your father wants, I…'

'I can't leave,' she said. She looked down, unable to hold his glance. Then she repeated, 'I can't.'

'Why not?' he asked, his grip on her tightened so much that it was beginning to hurt her, 'is it because…'

'Matt!' she exclaimed. She then shook herself free from his grasp and said: 'please, try to understand. You know what will happen if I don't do what my father wants.'

'And you know what I can do about that,' Matthias countered.

'Matt,' she said tiredly, 'I know your intentions are good but, believe me, the last thing you want is to cross my father so, for the last time, please let me handle this my own way.'

'But you can't stay here,' he repeated, 'not with _him_.'

'Matt…'

'Please Ayane,' Matthias started, 'you know how much I care about you. I can't stand the fact that you have to stay in this place. I…we could both stay at the hotel, I've already asked and they said they could easily get you the suite next to mine.'

'You shouldn't have bothered,' Ayane said, 'you know that the deal is for me to stay here. If my father finds out that I'm staying with you, he'll force me to transfer to Hyotei. Do you really want for that to happen?'

Matthias looked at her with a wounded expression on his face then, very slowly, he shook his head.

'Then,' Ayane continued, 'please go back to Zurich. I'll be fine and, if anything goes wrong, you'll be the first person I call, okay?'

She could see Matthias' inner conflict and, if she knew him as well as she thought she did, she knew he was trying to find another way to persuade her but, seeing as there was none, he lowered his head and, with a voice just above a whisper, he said:

'Okay, you win.'

'Thank you,' Ayane said. She placed both of her hands on each of the sides of his head and, cupping his cheeks, she made him look at her, 'you're the best friend I could ever have, you know that, don't you?'

'Yes,' he replied, 'but you also know that, if I had my way, we would be a lot more than friends.'

'Matthias…'

'I know, I know,' he said, 'it's impossible.'

'I'm sorry,' she said. She went to remove her hands from his face when he stopped her by placing his on over them.

'That won't stop me from loving you,' Matthias said passionately, 'always.'

'Matt…'

She didn't finish the sentence because, right at that moment, Matthias pulled her into a bone crushing hug. She heard the intense angst in his voice when, speaking over the top of her head, he said:

'I'll stay at the hotel till Sunday; if you change your mind, please come and find me.'

With that, he let go of her and made her way to the door. He didn't even wait for a butler to get it open for him and an instant later, he was gone. Ayane was left there, staring at the beautifully carved wooden panels.

Keigo, dressed with a pair of dark linen trousers and a white shirt, chose that instant to announce his presence by clearing his throat. He hadn't overheard the entire conversation but he'd heard enough. He'd also seen the amount of raw pain in Matthias' expression and that made him feel very sorry for the guy. He also felt admiration for the determination and the loyalty the Swiss had for Ayane. Then there was another emotion, one which was beginning to grow stronger but that he still hadn't identified.

'Keigo,' Ayane said.

'So,' he said, 'you're staying.'

'Yes,' Ayane replied, 'if you don't mind.'

'Is it true?' Keigo asked.

'What is?' a confused Ayane asked.

'That your father will transfer you to Hyotei if you don't stay here for as long as you agreed with him.'

'Yes,' Ayane said.

'Ahn,' was Keigo's only observation. He then turned round and started walking away from her. She didn't even try to stop him but, even if she had, he was determined to put as much distance between them as possible so that he could do some much needed thinking.

He went to his room and locked himself in it then, walking to the hi-fi system, he selected a CD containing his favourite classic tunes, the one he always listened to whenever he had to make some important decisions. Pressing the play button, he threw himself on top of his bed and let himself stare at the ceiling for a while.

It was very clear to him what had triggered the emotional turmoil he had been suffering for the past two weeks. He hated to admit it but Hyotei's defeat in the Kanto Tournament had been humiliating. Not only, he had hurt Tezuka during his game with him and that was something for which he still hadn't forgiven himself. He knew that he hadn't been his usual rational self and Ayane's arrival had only made things worse. He wasn't sure that his feelings for the girl were as strong as what Matthias felt for her but one thing was certain, Keigo would rather let someone beat him in tennis before he would let anyone hurt him the way Ayane was obviously hurting Matthias.

With a pang, he finally managed to put a label to the strong, blinding emotion he was feeling: it was fear. He was scared in a way he hadn't been in so long that he hardly remembered the last time he'd felt this way. It had been when his parents left him alone in England. When he decided that loving someone would only give them too much power. Power to reject you, to hurt you. To leave you alone. He didn't want to go through that again.

No, what he needed now was to get his attention back to his tennis. Hyotei was out of the race to the Nationals but that didn't mean he would give up on his dream to make Hyotei's Tennis Club stand as number one in Japan. He still had the three years of high school to fulfil the promise he'd made in his first year at Hyotei.

He would get his team to win the Nationals.

With this newfound determination, Keigo jumped out of bed reaching the phone in just a few strides. Using the remote, he turned the music down a bit; he then picked the receiver up and pressed the fast-dial button which would connect him to Sakaki. He then waited for his coach to answer.

'Atobe, what's wrong?' the music teacher asked.

'Coach, I was wondering if you could do me a favour,' Keigo said with the usual polite tone he always used when talking to his tennis coach.

'What is it?'

'I need to have as much information as possible about the current team members of the high school division…'

Their conversation went on for nearly half an hour. As expected, his coach had every imaginable detail about the nearly three hundred people that made up the tennis club in Hyotei's high school division. He wasn't particularly impressed by any of them but it didn't matter: nearly all of the third-year regulars from middle school would continue their education in Hyotei, which meant that the following year they would get a very good batch of players. He would yet again become Captain and, this time, he would certainly lead them to victory.

Keigo woke up sometime later feeling slightly disorientated. He glanced at the antique clock he had in his room and saw that it was nearly ten thirty. His trusty butler had probably tried to wake him up for dinner but had given up not getting a response from him. It wouldn't be the first time it happened.

He got up and picked up the receiver to call the staffroom. The maid who was on night duty answered after only one ring.

'I'm hungry,' he said. He then hung up.

Less than ten minutes later, a knock on the door announced that his dinner was there. They had made him his favourite roast beef with a Yorkshire pudding and freshly boiled vegetables, some nice and thick onion gravy covered it all. Seeing it made him realise just how very hungry he truly was.

'Keigo-bocchama,' the butler asked, 'is everything to your liking?'

'Yes,' Keigo replied. Then, he remembered, 'has our guest eaten anything?'

'Ayane-sama requested something light earlier on,' the butler replied, 'we prepared some sandwiches but she left most of it untouched.'

'I see,' Keigo said, 'you might retire for the night, I'll help myself.'

'As you wish,' the butler said then, bidding his young master goodnight, the middle aged man left the room. Keigo then stared at the food for a short while. Even if he tried to find Ayane to speak to her, chances were that she was already sleeping and, at any rate, this delicious meal would get cold.

For this reason, he sat down at the small table he had in his room and started eating. He poured some lemonade from the jug and started enjoying his very late dinner. Twenty minutes later, too full to go back to bed, Keigo decided to go to the garden and take a walk, as he liked doing in warm summer nights such as this one.

He stepped out of the mansion and, through the columns which separated it from the garden, he saw that someone was sitting at the edge of the pool. Keigo's keen eyesight helped him to quickly figure out that it was Ayane. Being as quiet as possible, he got closer and, as he did, he realised that her small shoulders were shaking.

She was clearly crying.

Keigo turned round that instant and, desperate to make his way back into the mansion as quickly as possible, he made too much noise while trying to get the stupid door to open.

'Who's there?' he heard Ayane say.

He really had no escape now.

'Me,' he simply said. He then walked down the short flight of stairs and decided to join her. He was grateful that the lights which usually illuminated the whole area had been turned off since, in theory, the young master was already sleeping. He just hoped that no one would be foolish enough to turn them back on right at that moment.

'What are you doing in here?' Ayane asked him.

'This _is _my home, you know?' Keigo replied sardonically.

'I know,' Ayane said. He noticed she had stopped crying.

'I went for a walk,' he finally said, 'what about you?'

Ayane didn't say anything. Instead, she got up, stirring and splashing the water with her feet as she did so. He found it weird that she had been sitting there with her feet in the water while crying. Weird but in a cute kind of way…

'You know,' Ayane said turning her back on him and looking at the moonless sky, 'I often wish I had been born in a different family. I know it sounds childish but, I've always wanted the kind of family where I would see my parents every day, that we would go to the zoo together and that…'

'You're right,' Keigo interrupted her, 'that sounds very childish.'

'I'm sorry...'

'Don't be,' Keigo said, 'you're only fifteen.'

'Hey,' Ayane said turning round to face him, 'you're younger than me, remember?'

'Only in age,' Keigo countered, 'I'm definitely a lot more mature than you are. For one, I can't even recall the last time I cried. You do it all the time.'

'I know,' Ayane said getting all self-conscious, 'I should really stop doing it.'

'Yes, you should, it's really annoying.'

Ayane looked at him in the darkness, then, with a small voice, she said:

'I am annoying, aren't I?'

'Unbelievably so,' Keigo replied.

'I'm sorry,' she said again. Why did she keep apologising so much? He asked himself.

'At any rate,' he said, 'what were you crying about just now?'

'Many things,' Ayane replied. He regretted asking this. Why was he even there? He really should cut this conversation short so that he could leave while he was still on time, 'my life being a royal mess is one,' she continued oblivious to his dilemma, 'the fact that I've once again hurt Matt. But, mainly, I'm crying because of you.'

'Me?' Keigo asked in spite of himself.

'Yes, you,' she confirmed, 'if our parents hadn't forced us to live together, I very much doubt you would have noticed me.'

'Ayane…'

'It's useless that I keep this to myself,' the girl continued. It almost looked as though as she was talking to herself when she finally said: 'I love you, Keigo. I've been in love with you since I was ten.'

The shock of hearing those words, of hearing them now just as he had decided to forget about what he felt for her, was too much for him to handle. He swallowed hard and, knowing fully well that he was being a complete bastard, he said:

'I'm really sorry to hear that.'

'W-what?' Ayane stuttered.

'Look,' Keigo said, 'I really can't give you what you need right now. My life too is too complicated and I can't fit you in it.'

'Keigo…'

'I simply can't deal with these sort of things now,' Keigo continued, 'it's just like your situation with Matthias. It doesn't matter what we feel for each other, right now, I don't want to have anyone in my life.'

'Keigo…' Ayane repeated with an anguished voice.

'I think it's better if you go to Zurich with Matthias,' Keigo said, 'don't worry about our parents. I'll talk to them.'

'Kei…'

'Goodnight Ayane,' Keigo said. He then turned round and, this time, he didn't stop even though he knew that, once again, she was full of tears. It really took all of his legendarily strong willpower to keep on walking while repeating to himself that it was for the best.

For both of them.

_To be continued…_


	9. Chapter Eight

_A/N: Two more updates to go. I'll have chapter nine and the epilogue up tomorrow (with a bit of luck!) Many thanks to everyone who's reading this little story of mine. You guys rock gazillions._

**Match Point**

_Chapter Eight_

The morning after, Keigo woke up with a very annoying headache. He usually slept like a log but last night, he had done nothing but to toss around his bed till the wee hours of the morning. Because of this, he felt as tired as if he'd run a marathon.

'Keigo-bocchama,' the butler said, 'I hope you slept well.'

'I didn't,' he replied, 'and I have a terrible headache.'

'Oh,' the butler said. The old man looked as though as he had something unpleasant to say and he was trying hard to find the best way to do so.

'What is it?' Keigo asked impatiently. He got up from bed and put on a dark blue, satin robe while waiting for the man to speak. When he eventually did, it was with a cautious tone, as if he were trying to soothe a very wild beast.

'Ayane-sama's left this morning. She took her belongings with her.'

Keigo had to fight with himself to keep his composure. So, she had done what he wanted. That was good, wasn't it? One less trouble for him. This way he could finally start thinking clearly and sort everything out, beginning with his current tennis team. He had to make sure that Wakashi Hiyoshi would do a good job as captain…

'Keigo-bocchama,' the butler said.

'Yes?' Why did his voice sound so unnaturally high-pitched?

'Ayane-sama left this for you,' he said handing him a small silver tray with a letter on top of it. His name was written on the envelope and, judging by the irregular and trembling strokes, Ayane had probably written it very quickly and while crying. That girl _always_ cried.

'Leave it there,' Keigo said indicating with his head one of his bedside tables.

'As you wish,' the butler said. He deposited the tray on it then, bowing deeply, he departed from the room.

Keigo forced himself not to think about it nor about the girl who'd written it so, ignoring the tray, he went to his en-suite bathroom where he took a long shower. He then got dressed and, still ignoring the letter, stepped out of the room so that he could go and eat his breakfast.

It was going to get easier, he thought while drinking his coffee. Once he got to school, he would just need to reassume his daily routines and everything would fall back to where it was supposed to be. The fact that Ayane had told him that she was in love with him would soon become an unfortunate incident.

'Good morning Kabaji,' he said to his best friend when the big boy stepped into the breakfast room, 'did you sleep well?'

Munehiro looked at him with a puzzled expression.

'Ah,' Keigo realised, 'you didn't sleep here last night…'

Munehiro shook his head. He then gave one of his deadpan looks which Keigo had learned to interpret as an expression full of understanding. Once again, Keigo got the distinct impression his best friend was patronising him. No, he thought to himself, he would never do that…

By the time the two boys climbed out of the limousine, Munehiro's healing presence had worked wonders with Keigo's strange mood and he even smiled when Yuushi approached him, with nearly as much care as the butler had had when telling him about Ayane's sudden departure.

Stop thinking about her, he admonished himself.

'Good morning,' Yuushi's greeting sounded very much a question.

'Good morning,' Keigo confirmed. He forced himself to keep his smile on while Gakuto and a sleepy Jiroh came over to greet him. Soon the five regulars were joined by Ryo Shishido and Chotaro Otori. The two of them looked like they had been to hell and back.

'I see you're enjoying your retirement,' Ryo said slyly.

'I see you're enjoying yours,' Keigo replied.

'Shishido-san and I have been doing some special training,' the always nice Chotaro explained, 'we followed the same regime he did when…'

'Chotaro,' Ryo interrupted him, 'there is no need to go into so much detail.'

'Sorry.'

'So,' Keigo said, wanting to get everybody's attention, 'since none of you are busy, I want to have a meeting after school. Only the third-year regulars are required to attend.'

'Atobe-san…' Chotaro started.

'Don't worry,' Keigo interrupted him, 'we aren't going to discuss anything about the team.'

'We aren't?' Yuushi asked.

'No,' Keigo replied, 'I got some really good information from the coach and I want to share it with you. I'll see you all later at the club room.'

With this, and followed by Munehiro, Keigo started walking towards the school building ignoring, as usual, the many, many girls who waited, sometimes several hours each morning, just to catch a glimpse of him. It had been the same since his arrival at Hyotei and it seemed that their numbers were only getting higher.

It had never bothered him, if anything he thought that for someone like him, this level of attention was only to be expected. He was, after all, Keigo Atobe. This morning though, he noticed that he was walking a little faster, as if he was trying to get to his classroom as quickly as possible.

Once there, he gladly welcomed the lessons since they provided him with the distraction he needed. As Hyotei's top student, he didn't really need to pay much attention, his brain just absorbed everything he saw or heard and he managed to get his marks pretty much effortlessly.

That didn't mean he didn't study. He did. He spent several hours a week at the library, making sure the facts his brain had assimilated were accurate, expanding his research whenever he found a topic particularly interesting which happened surprisingly often, especially when it was related to any of the ancient civilisations. He simply was fascinated by the Greek.

Too soon, the lessons came to an end. He was about to get up from his desk when a girl boldly approached him. That was not something unusual either so, as he always did with the rest of his admirers, Keigo got up ready to ignore her.

'Atobe-sama,' the girl said nevertheless, 'please read this.'

Briefly looking at her, he saw that she was holding a letter, one of those super-cheesy ones with hearts hand-drawn on the envelope. This one even had a little angel with his name written next to it. Give me a break, Keigo thought feeling mildly disgusted.

'Please,' the girl repeated. Her eyes began to shine dangerously and that brought to Keigo the memory of another pair of teary eyes. That made him feel really uneasy and he found it hard to keep a more or less even tone when he said:

'I'm not interested.'

He then walked away and, through the corner of one eye, he saw two girls, probably friends of the first one, rushing to hug her, telling her that she had to be proud for having managed to speak to him at all. It was always the same boring story.

The meeting with the third-year regulars went rather well, even Jiroh seemed to be keen to know as much as possible about his future senpai and he only fell asleep when Yuushi and Gakuto started talking about a Monthly Pro Tennis article which spoke about the upcoming Kanto Finals between Rikkai Dai and Seigaku.

'Atobe,' Yuushi asked while they were leaving the clubroom, 'you're coming to watch the matches with us, aren't you?'

'Maybe,' Keigo replied.

'What about your guest?' Gakuto imprudently asked. Yuushi glared at his doubles partner.

'She's no longer a problem,' Keigo replied then, before anyone could ask, he added, 'because she's gone back to Zurich.'

No one dared say anything to that. Instead, Jiroh complained about the fact that he was too sleepy to go home and if he could please sleep in the clubroom. The arrival of the second-year regulars provided the distraction Keigo needed to reaffirm his resolution to stay focused on his tennis.

Shortly after that, he and Munehiro were onboard the limousine, on their way to the Atobe Sports Gym for some quick workout when Keigo remembered that he'd promised Ayane that he'd sort things out with their parents. Knowing that it was better to deal with unpleasant things as fast as possible, he pulled out one of his mobile phones and dialled the number to his father's secretary.

'Atobe Holdings, this is the president's office,' the woman replied.

'It's me,' Keigo said.

'Keigo-sama, I'm afraid but your father is in a meeting and can't take any calls,' the secretary said, her tone softening considerably.

'Don't worry,' he said, 'I don't need to talk to him. I'm sure you have Daitaro Watanabe's direct phone number.'

'Of course,' the secretary confirmed, 'do you want me to send it to you or would you prefer if I tried transferring your call?'

'Just send it to this number. I'll make the call myself.'

'I'll do it right away,' she said, 'please do let me know if you need anything else.'

'Sure,' Keigo said. He then thanked her for her help and closed the call. Less than ten seconds later, he got a text message containing Daitaro Watanabe's virtual business card. He just needed to select the 'use number' option in his phone and press the dial button.

'Hello?'

Keigo was surprised that the man himself had answered the call.

'Good evening, sir,' he said, 'this is Keigo Atobe.'

'Keigo,' the man said, he too sounded surprised, 'is there anything wrong with Ayane?'

'No, your daughter is fine, sir,' Keigo lied. He then hesitated, unsure as to how to phrase what he had to say next. 'I just wanted to let you know that she's on her way back to Zurich…'

'What did you say?' the man demanded.

'Sir,' Keigo started, 'it is very important that you understand that she did nothing wrong. I take full responsibility for her premature departure.'

'What did she do?'

'Nothing,' Keigo lied again, 'she's not at fault. I know that you and my father wanted for us to become…friends but, right now I am preoccupied with other matters which prevent me from being a good host. Please understand that Ayane simply accommodated my needs. I'm sure we'll be able to meet again in the short-term future.'

His long speech was followed by a thick silence.

'I understand,' Keigo finally heard the man say, 'just tell me one thing.'

'Of course,' Keigo said.

'Did you call me yourself because you were worried that I might be disappointed in Ayane?'

Keigo didn't know what to answer to that but, ultimately, what Daitaro Watanabe was assuming wasn't that far-fetched.

'Yes, that's correct,' he finally said.

'Alright,' the man replied, 'that's good enough for me.'

With this, the older man said goodbye and closed the communication before Keigo could add anything else. The conversation had gone a lot more smoothly than he thought it would and Watanabe seemed like a reasonable man. Again, he knew that the hardest person to talk to would be his own father and Keigo was almost happy that the man was currently unavailable.

He was so immersed in his own thoughts that he failed to see the way Munehiro was looking at him. He only noticed once the car stopped outside his family's gym.

'What's wrong with you?' Keigo asked him.

The second year didn't reply. While not unusual, Keigo found it oddly irritating. He briefly considered pressing him for an answer but, ultimately, he knew it was better to leave it alone. His driver also chose to open the limousine's door to let him out when Munehiro suddenly asked:

'She's gone?'

Keigo stopped climbing out of the car and, looking at his best friend, he said:

'Yes, she's gone.'

Munehiro didn't need to say anything but his expression showed that he was sorry to hear that. Surely he hadn't been so absent-minded to fail to notice any interaction between his best friend and Ayane. Then something occurred to him:

'Did you talk to each other?'

'Yup.'

'Really?' Keigo asked surprised, 'what about?'

'Your tenth birthday party,' Munehiro replied simply.

Keigo tried to recall that particular party. He vaguely remembered that his parents had booked a huge hotel hall in London for his birthday and that there were way too many guests for him to know all of their names. He had no memory of Ayane being there at all but it was perfectly plausible that he had failed to notice her.

'Was she there?' he asked, just to be sure.

'Yup,' Munehiro said. Then, before needing a further prompt, he explained, 'she helped me with my shirt.'

'Your shirt?'

'Yup.'

'What was wrong with it?' Keigo asked him.

'It was dirty,' Munehiro replied.

'How did it get dirty?' Keigo asked even though he suspected the answer, 'did anyone get it dirty?'

'Yup,' Munehiro replied.

'I see.'

He knew that, back then, a lot of people picked on Munehiro. At first, kids had been afraid of the bigger than average Japanese kid but soon, when they realised that simple Munehiro would never hurt a fly, they started bullying him. No one liked the fact that he was so unresponsive and, of course, the more he got picked on, the quieter he became.

Keigo had been furious when he'd found out and, after dealing with the ones responsible, by getting them kicked out of King's, he'd started becoming friends with the younger kid and making sure no one would ever mess with him again.

'Why didn't you come to me?' Keigo asked.

'She found me first,' Munehiro replied.

'And she helped you clean the shirt,' Keigo said.

'Yup.'

'Did she do anything else?' he enquired.

'Yup.'

'What did she do?'

'She got mad with the boy who did it.'

'She told him off?'

'Yup.'

'And you didn't tell me any of this, because…'

'You didn't ask,' Munehiro replied with his usual monotone.

Keigo took a few moments to process the information. He even ignored his chauffeur who wanted to know if they were staying or if he had to drive them somewhere else. The fact that a ten year old Ayane would defend his best friend from one of his bullies made his heart feel incredibly heavy. He was well aware that he'd probably made a mistake pushing her away like that but, in all honesty, he didn't know what else to do.

'Keigo-bocchama,' the chauffeur insisted.

'Let's go and play some tennis,' Keigo said talking to Munehiro.

That's right. He needed to stick by the plan. Tennis was his life and there was no room for anything else. He hoped that, with time, his heart would also agree with him and he would stop feeling so horrible about the pain he'd caused to Ayane.

_To be continued…_


	10. Chapter Nine

_A/N: Just as promised, here's the last chapter. I should have the epilogue up later on today. As always, thanks for reading! ^_^_

**Match Point**

_Chapter Nine_

It was a very hot mid-August Sunday morning and Keigo was working out at his family's sports centre. A few days before, he'd managed to get in touch with his father but, by the looks of it, it had been an unnecessary call. Not only Keisei Atobe wasn't upset about Ayane's sudden departure, but he hadn't even wanted to waste his time discussing the matter, ordering Keigo to forget about it.

Being off the hook, Keigo decided to focus his attention back on his favourite sport, which didn't necessarily mean he could relax, if anything, after watching the humiliating way in which Seigaku had defeated the current National Champions, he felt like he had to train harder than ever.

Keigo wasn't surprised by Seigaku's victory. He'd experienced their unbelievable power first hand and, while it still hurt to think about his team's loss, he knew that the Seigaku players deserved what they'd achieved. Especially that Ryoma Echizen. The first-year's skills just kept on evolving and, at this point, Keigo honestly didn't know what the kid's limits were.

If he had any.

Kunimitsu Tezuka had every reason to be proud of his team. Now, all that was needed was for him to get back from Miyazaki so that he could do what Keigo was no longer able to do: lead his team and dethrone Rikkai Dai. If only Hyotei had played better during the first round of the Kanto Tournament…

Feeling increasingly frustrated, he replayed the Singles 1 match in his head while he pushed the handles of the strength circuit machine he was currently using. It would forever remain imprinted in his brain the intensity shown by both Sanada and Echizen during their battle.

Especially that non-bouncing drive the first year had used to put an end to the match. COOL Drive, that big-mouthed rookie had called it.

When he was done with the machine, he took a quick shower. It was then when he saw an open edition of Monthly Pro Tennis. There was a picture of Ryoma Echizen labelled 'player focus'. Angrily, he threw his towel on top of the magazine and decided to go for a run.

He didn't have any specific destination so he kept running until he made it to the wide lane which led to Hyotei Gakuen. It was Sunday morning so the school should be devoid of any students and, as far as he knew, the tennis club members had all gone home for the day.

All the better since he needed an empty court for what he had in mind.

Walking to the locker room, he took off his short sleeved, hooded jersey, donning one of his oldest t-shirts. He then grabbed his racquet and, taking a few balls out of a basket, he went back to the courts. He then spent the following two hours working on what he hoped, would become his new killer serve.

'Hey, there he is!' he heard someone shout all of a sudden.

'We got the recommendation spot! We get to go to the Nationals!' he then heard someone else.

'We're going no matter what,' Ryo said challengingly.

'Please Captain,' Wakashi and Chotaro shouted together, 'we want to show to these guys at the Nationals just how good we really are.'

Keigo stopped pretending he wasn't listening when, coming from the school's building, they heard hundreds of voices chanting the school's name. In a desperate effort to keep the cool which made him so famous, he scowled and said:

'Idiots, each and every one of you…getting so worked up…'

Slowly, he lifted his arm and did his trademark snap which, as always, quieted everyone down then, with a half a smile, he shouted:

'FOLLOW ME TO THE NATIONALS!'

Deafening cheers roared throughout the school grounds and, for the first time in nearly a month, Keigo felt happy. If everything went well, he could very well fulfil his promise to the members of the tennis club before they entered high school.

The celebrations, as they usually did at Hyotei, went on forever and it wasn't until very late that night that Keigo got back to the mansion. He found it incredible that Hyotei had been given a second chance but his happiness subdued significantly once he found himself alone.

What was the point of having good news if you had no one to share them with?

Walking towards his room, he pictured the regulars running to tell their friends and families that they were going to be part of the National Championship. He also imagined the reaction they would get from them and how the families would probably celebrate it with some special, home cooked dinner.

He, Keigo, had no one to tell except his dog Beat and the hired help.

Telling his father was out of the question, Keisei Atobe simply didn't care about these matters and his mother was probably too busy renovating their chateau in England to even remember that her son was a national-level tennis player.

Stepping into his room, he briefly considered calling Kunimitsu Tezuka. The Seigaku captain would probably be happy to hear that his friend and rival would join him at the tournament. Then, thinking about it more carefully, he realised just how pathetic that would be.

Then, Keigo's eyes wandered towards the bedside table.

Quickly, before giving himself time to reason, he walked towards it, yanked the drawer open and retrieved Ayane's letter. Her handwriting seemed even shakier than it had done when he'd last seen it. He also noticed how the envelope was as plain as the girl who had used it, none of the fancy, overdone stationery his admirers usually favoured.

Something prevented him from ripping it apart and, very carefully, Keigo opened the envelope; he then extracted a single sheet of white paper and started reading:

_Dear Keigo,_

_I'm not even sure if you'll read this letter but, if you do, I want you to know this: I'm very sorry too. I'm not sorry that I told you how I feel about you because I'm not. I found that saying it out loud after all these years was a most liberating experience. _

_What I'm sorry about is that I couldn't make myself clear with you. I should have told you that, in spite of my feelings for you, I still wanted to have my own life. I certainly don't want to transfer to Hyotei, I want to stay in Zurich because that's where my life is and I'm not ready to build a new one in Japan. _

_I would also like to thank you for giving me the incentive to stand up to my father. I think it's due time that I live my own life the way I want. I think that if I keep trying to please him, I'll never be happy so, from now on, I'll try to make my own decisions. I only hope he can bring himself to understand._

_I doubt I could harm the long-standing friendship between our families but, just in case, I'll make sure your parents know that you were a wonderful host and that I left simply because I was homesick. It's also because of this friendship that I can't promise you that we won't see each other again but, if we have to, I'll do my best not to bother you. _

_Take care of yourself, _

_Ayane. _

Keigo read the letter several times. He then crumpled it in his fist and threw it against one of the room's walls. He sat down on his bed and, holding his head with his hands, he touched his elbows to his legs and said:

'Ayane, you're such an idiot.'

Who was he kidding? It was he who was an idiot. Yes, Hyotei was now taking part in the National Championship. He could lead them to become Japan's number one school and he had even managed to master an outstanding serve but, at what cost?

Analysing things rationally, it really made no sense what he felt whenever he thought about Ayane. The girl was an annoying, oversensitive cry-baby. She was a horrendous skier and she couldn't even play tennis. As far as he could tell, she had no fashion sense whatsoever and she wasn't even particularly good-looking.

She had a few redeeming qualities, including the fact that, with her, he didn't feel the need to be anything but himself and she would never think he was weak. Her own wealthy background ensured him that she would never be with him because of his money and that was also a plus. In many ways, she was his exact opposite but that was what he found most appealing about her.

He was an idiot for having sent her away.

He got up and, walking towards the phone and called his staffroom. The instant they picked up he started issuing a long list of orders, insisting that they had an hour to organise everything.

Exactly three hours after that, Keigo was onboard the Atobe's private jet taxing along the take-off strip at Tokyo Haneda's airport. He knew that what he was doing was nothing short of suicidal but he also was sure that if he didn't do it, he would probably regret it for the rest of his life.

'Keigo-san,' the flight attendant said, 'you need to fasten your seatbelt.'

Keigo complied, wishing the pilot would hurry up. He knew it would be dangerous if he had too much time to think. He was about to press the buzzer to communicate with the man in charge of the plane when Keigo heard his voice say:

'Keigo-san, we're now clear for take off.'

Some fifteen hours later, they started descending towards Zurich Airport. Keigo busied himself looking out of the window to observe the green fields which surrounded it. He started getting nervous and he was grateful that the flight attendant was also in charge of the necessary documents so that he could pass through passport control more or less undisturbed.

Just as he crossed the arrivals gate, he saw a tall, dark haired guy waving at him. Keigo was lucky to count Karl Christen as one of his closest friends also because it helped him polish his German during their more or less frequent phone calls.

'Hi Karl,' Keigo said shaking hands with him, 'thanks for coming and sorry for the sort notice.'

'No problem,' Karl said, 'here's the address you asked for.'

'Thanks,' Keigo repeated taking a small slip of paper from his friend.

'So,' Karl asked, 'why are you showing up here all of a sudden?'

'I can't tell you that,' Keigo said, 'it's too private.'

'Well,' Karl said, 'the address I've just given you is the dorm for the female students of Institut Montana and…'

'Karl,' Keigo interrupted him, 'let's just go, okay?'

'Sure,' a grinning Karl said, 'I have a car waiting for us. You can tell me all about this girl on our way there.'

Since the airport wasn't too far from the city, they were soon cruising along one of the wide avenues in Oberstrass, famous for being one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Zurich. Karl had not stopped trying to pry information from Keigo but, so far, he had not been successful.

'This is it,' a frustrated Karl said, 'do you want me to wait for you?'

'No,' Keigo said, 'just take my stuff back to your place. If things don't go well, I'll join you for dinner.'

'Okay,' Karl said, 'you owe me one though.'

'I know,' Keigo replied. He then climbed out of the car, a shiny brand new Audi. He was glad he was wearing a long sleeved polo neck with a black blazer over it because it did feel a lot colder than in Tokyo, or maybe it was just his nerves which made him feel that way.

He looked up at the cream coloured multi-storey building. It was more or less as big as his mansion in Tokyo and it appeared to be several centuries old. Large stone steps led to a heavy looking door. Next to it, he saw a metallic plate with the name of Ayane's school engraved on it.

'What are you doing in here?'

Keigo knew that voice and he also knew its owner had every reason to sound as pissed off as he did.

'Matthias…'

'I asked you a question.'

'I need to see Ayane,' Keigo replied.

'No.'

'Matthias…'

'If you think I'll let you go anywhere near her, you're crazier than I thought,' the Swiss guy said. Keigo went to speak again but Matthias was faster, 'you broke her heart you bastard! It's taken us days to get her to stop crying and I'm certainly not going to make her go through that again.'

Keigo felt angry at himself for being the cause of those tears but, mainly, he was mad at Matthias for being in the way.

'Look,' he said as calmly as he could, 'I'm going to speak to her, whether you like it or not. There are things I need to tell her and I'm sure she wants to hear them.'

Keigo knew that Matthias would have lost it if it hadn't been because, right at that moment, someone opened the dorm's door. His heart skipped a beat when he saw that the one stepping out of the building was Ayane herself, followed by a very tall, blonde girl. He bet anything that the girl was Matthias' sister Alexandra.

'Keigo…'

'Hello,' Keigo said casually.

'W-what…'

'I need to speak to you,' Keigo said then, glancing quickly at a positively fuming Matthias, he added, 'in private.'

'You b…'

'Matt!' Ayane said rushing down the stairs. She positioned herself between the two boys facing the Swiss; she then put her hand on his arm and said, 'please Matthias, it'll be alright.'

'Aya…'

'I know,' Ayane said, 'I won't be long.'

Matthias was joined by Alexandra and the two siblings looked at the Japanese girl with equally worried expressions on their faces. Keigo could tell that the only reason why he wasn't laying on the pavement with a bloody nose was because Ayane was there.

'Are you sure about this?' Alexandra asked her.

'Yes,' Ayane replied firmly then, looking at Keigo, she said, 'there's a café down the road if…'

'Let's just go for a walk,' Keigo said.

Ayane followed him down the road. She didn't make any attempt to speak until, a few instants later, the girl realised that Keigo had no intention whatsoever to start the conversation himself. For this reason, she switched from German to Japanese and asked:

'What are you doing here?'

Her voice sounded tense and, observing her carefully, he noticed that the shadows beneath her eyes had become darker than ever. He wondered if she had slept at all in the two weeks they had not seen each other.

'I wanted to see you,' Keigo confessed.

Ayane didn't say anything to that.

'And I needed to tell you something,' Keigo continued.

Ayane remained stubbornly quiet.

'You know,' Keigo said, 'Hyotei's been recommended to the Nationals. We'll be entering the championship.'

Ayane stopped walking suddenly and that made him stop too. She then turned round to face him and, failing to contain a quickly growing hysteria, she nearly shrieked:

'Keigo, don't tell me you travelled around half the globe just to tell me about your latest tennis accomplishment.'

Keigo's expression darkened.

'No, that's not what I came to tell you,' he said, 'what I came to say was that I read your letter.'

Ayane became silent once again.

'I should have read it many days ago but I just couldn't do it.'

'Why not?' she asked.

'Because I knew that the minute I did, I would do what I've just done and then I would have no other option but to say what I'm about to say.'

'And what is that?' Ayane asked nervously.

'I care about you, okay?' Keigo spitted out angrily, 'and don't make me say it ever again or else…'

Ayane didn't let him finish his sentence, she just jumped onto him and hugging him as close to her as she could, she started crying. That made him shake his head while a soft smile appeared on his lips. He then said:

'You're always crying.'

'I know,' she said, her voice muffled by his chest.

'And you're so annoying.'

'I know,' she repeated.

'But ore-sama wouldn't have you any other way,' he finished and hugged her back.

_To be concluded…_


	11. Epilogue

_A/N: Okay, this is the end of my little Atobe/OC story. I would like to once again thank those who've reviewed, favourited or alerted this story. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did while writing it. _

_I think it's obvious but I simply adore Keigo Atobe. He'__s one of the most interesting characters in Prince of Tennis and I'm very happy Konomi-sensei decided to keep him and Hyotei in the story. I really hope we'll see much more of him in Shin Tennis no Ojisama because he's awesome, and he knows it. ^_^_

**Match Point**

_Epilogue_

Four months later at the same exclusive ski resort in St Moritz they had visited three years before, Keigo had again taken on the seemingly impossible task of teaching the basic skiing notions to his girlfriend Ayane. The girl was currently struggling to get back on her feet after the umpteenth-in-a-row fall.

'I give up,' Keigo said doing his best not to laugh at her, 'you seriously are hopeless.'

Ayane just glared at him since she was too tired to do anything else. Unfazed by this, Keigo just shook his head and offering his hand to her, he said:

'Let's go back to the hotel, our parents should be back from their trip.'

'Yeah,' Ayane huffed.

'You know what?' Keigo asked while the two of them slowly walked towards the resort's main building, 'I think we should forget about skiing.'

'I agree,' Ayane said heartily.

'How about fly-fishing?' he suggested, 'I think that even _you _could do that.'

Ayane tried to punch him on his arm but she slipped on the snow, falling once more onto the hard, frozen ground.

'Ouch!'

'That will teach you to try and hit ore-sama,' Keigo laughed but, being the gentleman he was, he helped get back up.

'I really don't know why I'm here,' she complained.

'Because our parents invited us to spend Christmas with them,' Keigo helpfully explained, 'come on, it's not that bad.'

'No,' Ayane said, 'it's worse. I will never, ever come back here again.'

'Alright, fly-fishing it is then,' Keigo decided.

The two of them finally made it to the huge, two-level apartment they had rented in the luxury hotel. Their parents hadn't got back from their trip yet and while Keigo started taking off the top of his skiing suit, Ayane checked her mobile phone to see if she had any messages.

She did.

'Matthias and Alexandra wish us a Happy Christmas,' she said to Keigo.

'Do they now?' he asked sounding a tad more than sceptical.

'Hey,' Ayane complained, 'Matthias is working very hard to accept that we're together, please be nice to him, okay?'

'Not having a fight, are we?' Daitaro Watanabe asked. He, his wife and Keigo's parents came into the room at that precise instant. He was smiling widely which meant that he had enjoyed the helicopter trip to the mountaintop suggested by Keisei Atobe.

'Good evening Father,' Ayane said, 'and no, we're not fighting.'

'Of course you aren't,' Keigo's mother said smiling at her potential daughter in law.

'So,' Ayane's mother said, 'I heard they'll be having a skiing show later on tonight: they'll all carry coloured torches while going down the slope and it's supposed to be really pretty. Why don't we get changed, have some dinner and then we can all go and see it?'

'That sounds good,' Keisei said, 'but I have a phone conference scheduled at midnight.'

'We'll be back before then,' his wife then said.

'Okay,' Keisei agreed, 'what about you two. You'll be joining us, right?'

'Of course,' Keigo replied and Ayane nodded.

'It's such a pity…' Daitaro said all of a sudden.

'What is?' Ayane asked frowning a bit.

'That you won't re-consider joining Keigo at Hyotei next year,' her father replied, 'living in two different continents is not good for such a young couple.'

'Father,' Ayane said, 'I've told you before: I want to finish my education here in Switzerland. Besides, it's the twenty-first century. We have something called videoconferencing and emails and…'

'He gets your point,' Keigo interrupted her. He did feel tempted to say that they really shouldn't be speaking about long-distance relationships, considering that no one in the room actually lived together, at least no more than a few weeks a year. But that would have ruined the mood and, after all, it was Christmas.

Also, even though he sometimes wanted to see Ayane in person, he agreed that it was much better this way: being in different continents gave Keigo the independence he needed to focus on his high school tennis career. If he wanted to keep up with the amazing progress his rivals were making, he really couldn't afford any distractions.

'Give it up,' Keisei said to his friend, 'a good businessman knows that, sometimes, one must settle for less to…'

'….get it all later,' Daitaro finished.

'Precisely,' Keisei said.

'Enough business talk,' Ayane's mother said, 'we have less than an hour to get refreshed for dinner and this little apartment only has four bathrooms.'

'Yes,' Keigo's mother said, 'we must hurry up or we'll miss the start of the show...'

A couple of hours later, Keigo and Ayane found themselves alone in the living room. Ayane had started feeling poorly half-way through their dinner and therefore their parents had gone out by themselves. It had taken the girl all her powers of persuasion to convince her mother that, no, she didn't need to be rushed to a hospital. A couple of aspirins would do just fine.

'How are you feeling?' Keigo asked her sitting by her side on the sofa.

'I think I'm going to get a cold,' Ayane complained miserably, 'you should stay away from me.'

'Why?' Keigo asked her.

'I might give it to you,' Ayane said thinking she was pointing out the obvious. Keigo laughed at her once and said:

'Ore-sama does not get colds.'

Ayane laughed softly but she then started coughing.

'Come here you idiot,' Keigo said pulling her towards him.

'No…' she protested, trying to get away from him.

'I told you,' Keigo said, 'ore-sama is immune to colds.'

Then, just to prove his point, he kissed her full on her lips.

THE END.


End file.
